Batelco’s Chairman Shaikh Hamad bin Abdulla Al Khalifa announced a strong start to 2008 with a net profit of BD27.4 million, an increase of 10.8% for the first quarter of the year versus Q1 2007. Gross revenues grew by 17.4% to BD78.1 million and basic earnings per share increased from 17.2 fils to 19.1 fils over the same period.
Speaking at the Company’s Board Meeting held on April 23rd at Batelco’s Hamala Headquarters, Shaikh Hamad said that Batelco’s focus on maintaining a leadership position in key segments in the Kingdom has been a major contributor to the first quarter financial success. Also central has been Batelco’s continuing efforts to win new customers at home through innovative offerings and via the delivery of its world class products & services to its subsidiaries in the region.
“Growth is the key to our future success and profitability. We remain focused on delivering better service and value to our customers whilst investing in new technology and growing our operations across the Middle East,” said Shaikh Hamad.
Batelco Chief Executive Officer Peter Kaliaropoulos said that Batelco continued to deliver double digit top and bottom line results in Quarter 1.
"Batelco continued to deliver strong revenue growth, ending the quarter at BD78.1M, representing a 17.4% year on year increase, driven mainly by overseas operations.”
"Net profit at BD27.4M, growing 10.8% year on year, incorporates a one off gain of BD6.8M from the sale of land owned by Batelco in Isa Town and a number of one-off charges.”
Mr. Kaliaropoulos explained that Batelco in Q1 adopted a more conservative Bad Debt Provision Policy, streamlined depreciation policies for its Umniah mobile operation, refunded 2 weeks internet charges to its Bahrain customers and provided for restructuring its operations via the Employee Redeployment Programme. These one-off charges impacted the bottom line by an additional BD4.9M versus the same period last year.
“Such charges as well as the double digit revenue growth, contributed to a significant increase in expenses, which rose 33.1% year on year.”
"Batelco's transformation in Bahrain and across the region continues unabated," continued Mr. Kaliaropoulos.
"Our overseas operations now contribute 33% of our revenues and more than 20% of our operating profits.”
“We continue to grow our ADSL, Wimax and 3.5G broadband customer base and are delighted with the take-up of the wireless Broadband services in Bahrain and Jordan. Our mobile subscriber base across the Group has risen to 3.3 million of which 704,000 are in Bahrain. We launched innovative and relevant new services including public studio video conferencing in Bahrain. We have attracted major data network hubs in Bahrain for multi-national customers against formidable competition from regional telecom operators.”
“Furthermore, Batelco reduced the monthly rental for its Single User Business Broadband package, by 30% from BD40 to BD28 and launched various IDD, mobile and data promotions. Discussions and negotiations continue with the TRA to allow Batelco to offer more innovative packages of services and lower prices to Bahraini customers,” added Mr. Kaliaropoulos.
Despite significant levels of competition and further unprecedented regulatory reform by the TRA in Bahrain aimed at curtailing Batelco’s market leadership, results for Q1 have been robust.
"We will continue to pursue market leadership in our chosen segments in the markets we compete in, and will further transform Batelco to effectively face additional competition in the future.”
“We are evolving Batelco into a regional company offering advanced communications’ services to consumers and businesses. By doing so we will benefit customers in Bahrain and leverage the skills and knowledge of our people,” Mr. Kaliaropoulos said.
Furthermore, Batelco’s customers are continuing to reap the benefits of improved products and services, delivered through a variety of Six Sigma process redesign methodologies which are currently being implemented throughout the Company.
“Ten of our employees have now been certified as Six Sigma Black Belts, following their successful completion of the required professional training.”
“The key challenge for us today is to manage increasingly complex processes at lower overall cost, whilst at the same time improving customer service. Learning from other companies who have faced similar challenges, the Six Sigma tools and techniques are one of the enablers that will support us to handle process complexity and lead to improvements. We believe that Six Sigma will significantly contribute to improving our customers’ experience and satisfy other business objectives,” he added.
Batelco Chairman Shaikh Hamad noted that Batelco continues to be one of the leading employers of Bahrainis in the Kingdom with 93% of its 1600 workforce being Bahraini Nationals. Additionally, Batelco is among Bahrain’s leading philanthropic companies with millions being spent each year on sponsorships and donations.
“Since the beginning of the year Batelco has supported the work of a number of major local charities through significant financial sponsorships and furthermore, Batelco has committed to contribute millions of dinars to a variety of causes as part of the Company’s annual social responsibility towards the community,” said Shaikh Hamad.
Mr. Kaliaropoulos said that Batelco’s Q1 results reflected the ongoing implementation of a 3 year business strategy to transform Batelco into a very customer responsive, value for money, innovative company in Bahrain and create a more diversified, regional operation across the Middle East.
“The pace of competition will only increase in Bahrain and across the region. Delivering better value to our customers, being innovative and keeping ahead of the competition are fundamental priorities. We strive to be innovative with our product & service offerings, remain competitive with our pricing, offer consistency and reliability in our dealings with our customers and be a company of reference and best choice for customers in Bahrain.”
“We will continue to invest as opportunities arise in Bahrain and across the region and grow the scale of our operations for mobiles, broadband, data services and ICT solutions,” Mr. Kaliaropoulos concluded.
About Batelco
Bahrain Telecommunications Company (Batelco) is the leading integrated communications provider in the Kingdom of Bahrain and an emerging force among the regions key telecommunications players.
Batelco serves both the corporate and consumer markets in the most liberalised and competitive environment in the Middle East, and remains committed to delivering cutting-edge telecommunications to its customers in Bahrain and the MENA region. The Company’s management and staff are driven by an enthusiasm for delivering the best customer experience based on innovation, affordability and reliability of products and services.
Batelco’s specialised services cover the full spectrum of telecommunications solutions for residential and business customers and span a comprehensive range of mobile services, international roaming, high-speed Internet connections, satellite services, WiFi, MPLS IP-VPN network provisioning and management, Datacoms services over fixed, wireless and internet platforms, managed services, systems integration and enterprise solutions.
Batelco has invested US$1.4 billion in Bahrain’s telecom infrastructure over the past 26 years, including significant investment in Next Generation Networks infrastructure which has reinforced the Kingdom’s position as a leading communications hub. The Company’s shares are listed on the Bahrain Stock Exchange with a total capitalization of approx US$ 3.2 billion as of April 2008.
