Ooredoo Group Announced Revenue of Qar14 Billion and Net Profit of Qar 818 Million in H1 2020

Ooredoo Q.P.S.C. (“Ooredoo”) - Ticker: ORDS today announced its financial results for the half year ended 30 June 2020.

Financial Highlights:

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• Revenue declined by 3% year-on-year to QAR 14.1 billion due to the COVID-19 impact. A reduction in handset sales and roaming business as well as macroeconomic weakness in some of our markets was partially offset by robust growth in Indonesia, Tunisia and Myanmar.
• EBITDA declined by 5% year-on-year to QAR 6.0 billion, impacted by movement restrictions to contain the spread of COVID-19 in our markets as well as challenging market conditions in Algeria, Kuwait, Iraq and Oman.
• Group Net Profit attributable to Ooredoo shareholders declined by 3% to QAR 818 million in H1 2020, compared to the same period last year, due to the reduction in EBITDA which was partially offset by a more favorable Foreign Exchange environment compared to the same period last year. 

• Data revenues account for more than 50% of total Revenue driven by our data leadership and digital transformation initiatives across the countries we operate in.

• Ooredoo Group has healthy cash reserve and liquidity levels to be able to absorb the impact of COVID-19 for the year 2020.

Operational highlights:

• COVID 19 response: Ooredoo Group remained sharply focused on mitigating the impact of COVID-19 during Q2 2020. Measures included enhancing health and safety and work from home initiatives for employees, continuing to provide uninterrupted connectivity and services for customers, optimised data traffic flows across our fixed and mobile networks, relief to communities that need it the most and targeted CSR campaigns and donations.
• Ooredoo Group enabled more people to work, study and socialize from home, with its customer base increasing by 2% to 117 million customers, boosted by additions in Myanmar and Qatar during H1 2020.
• Ooredoo Group continued to demonstrate its global leadership in 5G commercial deployment, with Ooredoo Oman being the latest to launch 5G Home Internet, enabling customers to experience connectivity up to 10 times faster than current home internet services and bringing high speed internet access to new areas of the country.
• In Qatar, Ooredoo reached a milestone of half a million mobile postpaid customers, while its 5G plans, launched in December 2019, have attracted more than 200,000 customers.
• Ooredoo Group maintained its world ranking in the 2020 edition of the Telecoms 300 report, as one of the top 50 global telecommunications brands for the fourth year in a row, with a brand value worth over USD 3.5 billion. It also maintained its Brand Rating status of AA+ for the second consecutive year.
• Ooredoo Group launched a Ramadan campaign under the theme “In a time when we can't be together, at least we can still be close,” showcasing the power of technology to bring families and friends together during the traditional Holy Month, and to enable communities around the world to overcome the current disruptions in their daily lives.

Commenting on the results, ­Sheikh Faisal Bin Thani Al Thani, Chairman of Ooredoo, said:

“Ooredoo Group, with its strong balance sheet and geographically diversified operations, has built a resilient business to successfully navigate the COVID-19 pandemic. Due to our strong digital capabilities, and innovative technology, Ooredoo Group was able to partially contain the erosion in its bottom line, despite the decline in revenues. Consequently, Ooredoo Group reported Net Profits of QAR 818 million for the first half of 2020, which were slightly down compared to the same period last year.

The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted our world in an unprecedented manner and has impacted every aspect of our lives. Throughout this period, our priorities at Ooredoo Group have been clear: the health and safety of our employees and customers; the continued provision of uninterrupted services to keep our customers connected at all times, and the empowerment of frontline workers and disadvantaged communities through CSR activities and donations.  For our customers, we provided more value with free data offers, upgrades and bundles, free access to educational and health resources online and increased convenience with access to fully digital services.

Digital transformation and technology continue to be a driving force for Ooredoo Group and our early investments in this area have enabled us to seamlessly respond to the new operating environment and serve our customers in a safe and convenient way. To accommodate the steep growth in data traffic during the pandemic, we are continuously optimising data traffic flows across our fixed and mobile networks. Additionally, experience sharing and cross-OpCo collaboration activities were implemented to help reduce the required resources and time to market.

These efforts have enabled us to stay true to our mission of enriching the digital lives of our customers, which is now more important than ever, and therefore, we have managed to accelerate our digital transformation plans across all markets. We now offer 5G speeds in three of our markets, with Ooredoo Oman being the latest to launch 5G Home Internet plans in Q2 2020 and 5G trials are ongoing in Indonesia, Myanmar and Maldives.”

Also commenting on the results, Sheikh Saud bin Nasser Al Thani, Group Chief Executive Officer of Ooredoo said:

“Ooredoo Group reported revenues of QAR 14.1 billion in H1 2020, down 3% year-on-year due to movement restrictions designed to contain the spread of the pandemic, reductions in handset sales and macroeconomic weakness in some of our other markets. This was partially offset by strong performances in Indonesia, Tunisia and Myanmar. Indosat Ooredoo’s revenues increased 6%, driven by its refreshed strategy and Ooredoo Tunisia’s value creation plan supported a 6% rise in its revenues. Strong demand for data supported an 8% increase in Ooredoo Myanmar’s revenue during the period.

Group EBITDA declined 5% to QAR 6.0 billion during H1 2020, compared to the same period last year, due to declining revenue and challenging market conditions in Algeria, Kuwait, Iraq and Oman. Across all our OpCos we remain committed to carefully optimising costs and driving operational efficiencies.

In our home market of Qatar, our post-paid customer base crossed the half a million mark and the 5G plans launched in December attracted over 200,000 customers already.

In Kuwait and Oman, we have partnered with the respective Ministry of Education to launch e-learning platforms from home for the upcoming school year 2020–2021. With digitalization at our core, we continuse toias.