Riyadh – Mubasher: Combined profits of Saudi telecom companies listed on the Saudi Stock Exchange (Tadawul) rose by 8.5% during 2020 or SAR 947 million when compared to a year earlier.

The net earnings of three Tadawul-listed telecom operators, whose fiscal years (FYs) end in December every year, came in at SAR 12.133 billion in 2020, compared with SAR 11.186 billion in 2019, according to data collected by Mubasher based on the companies’ earnings releases.

The Saudi telecom sector includes four firms, namely Saudi Telecom Company (stc), Etihad Etisalat Company (Mobily), Mobile Telecommunication Company Saudi Arabia (Zain KSA), and Etihad Atheeb Telecommunication Company (GO). The latter’s FY ends in March every year, whilst the FY of the first three ends in December of every year.

STC was the top gainer, having reported SAR 11.1 billion in last year’s net profit to post a year-on-year (YoY) growth of 3.9%.

In terms of profit rise percentage, Mobily ranked first with a 2,425% annual surge in 2020's net profits at SAR 783 million.

As for Zain KSA, the net profits reached SAR 260 million, down by 46.4% on a yearly basis.

Revenues of the three firms stood at SAR 81 billion last year, an annual increase of 6.18%.

In the fourth quarter (Q4) of 2020, the total profits of the said three companies leapt by 79% YoY to SAR 2,962 billion.