DUBAI — Mobile operator Ooredoo Kuwait reported a 30 percent fall in second-quarter profit on Sunday, mainly due to losses in Algeria and Tunisia, extending a lengthy earnings slump. The subsidiary of Qatar's Ooredoo, which competes domestically with Zain and Saudi Telecom affiliate Viva, had reported falling profits in 11 of the previous 14 quarters.
Ooredoo Kuwait made a net profit of 12.6 million dinars ($41.6 million) in the three months to June 30, down from 18 million dinars a year earlier, it said in a statement.
Second-quarter revenue was 184.8 million dinars, against 196.7 million dinars a year ago.
The company, which also has operations in Algeria, Tunisia, the Maldives and the Palestinian Territories, made a half-year net profit of 14.8 million dinars, down 61 percent from a year earlier.
"Net profit was impacted mainly due to adverse currency movements in Algeria and Tunisia," Ooredoo Kuwait chairman Sheikh Saud Bin Nasser Al Thani said in the statement.
The company's domestic operations made a half-year net profit of 4.5 million dinars, near-flat year-on-year despite its revenue and customer base both expanding by 8 percent over the same period.
For the first six months of 2015, Ooredoo Kuwait's profit from its Tunisian unit shrunk to 6.5 million dinars from 10.6 million dinars, while its profit from Algeria plunged to 2.5 million dinars from 20.9 million dinars over the same timeframe.
The company said the Tunisian and Algerian currencies fell 11 and 13 percent respectively against Kuwait's currency in the first half of 2014. — Reuters
