By Ahmed A. Namatalla - Nov 14, 2011 4:24 AM GMT+0700
Orascom Telecom Holding SAE (ORTE), North Africa’s biggest mobile phone company, said its third-quarter profit plunged as it accounted for the so-called fair value of its investments in two companies last year.
Net income for the period ended Sept. 30 was $10.3 million compared with $934.3 million a year earlier, the Cairo-based company said in a statement on its website today. Last year’s profit included $822 million related to the recognition of the fair value of its investments in Mobinil and Egyptian Co. for Mobile Services, it said.
The company’s revenue reached $1.01 billion, a 3.5 percent increase from last year. Djezzy, Orascom’s Algerian unit and biggest revenue generator, had a 9.5 percent increase in revenue to $486.7 million in the quarter from a year-earlier. Orascom’s subscriber base gained 12 percent to 108.9 million users from last year.
“OTH remains committed to unlocking the value of its operations on all fronts to its shareholders,” Khaled Bichara, Orascom’s Executive Chairman said in the statement. The company didn’t address the status of its dispute with the Algerian government regarding the latter’s announced intention to buy Djezzy.
Orascom’s shareholders last month approved the company’s division into two parts, Orascom Telecom Holding SAE and Orascom Telecom Media and Technology Holding SAE. The split facilitates a merger of its parent company Weather Investments SpA with Russia’s VimpelCom Ltd. (VIP) The $6.5 billion merger, which was completed in April, created the world’s sixth-largest phone company by subscribers.
Shares of Orascom Telecom fell 1.2 percent to 3.20 Egyptian pounds at the close in Cairo, the lowest level in more than two weeks. They are down 26 percent this year, compared with a 40- percent drop for the benchmark EGX 30 Index (EGX30) over the corresponding period a year earlier.
To contact the reporter on this story: Ahmed A Namatalla in Cairo at anamatalla@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Claudia Maedler at cmaedler@bloomberg.net
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