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du Posts Dh78m Net Profit in Q4

DUBAI - Emirates Integrated Telecommunications Company (du) said on Monday it raked in a net profit of Dh78 million in the fourth quarter, hoisting it to its first profitable year since entering the UAE mobile 
market in 2007.

du said it earned a full year net profit of Dh4.124 million in 2008, reversing its loss of Dh885 million in 2007.

In a statement to the Dubai bourse, du said its fourth quarter revenue rose to Dh1.227 billion, nearly doubling its revenue during the same 
period in 2007.

Its full-year revenue reached Dh3.951 billion, more than twice the revenue of Dh1.537 billion a year earlier.

du said its robust growth in 2008 was due to a growing mobile subscriber base with 628,000 new customers added in the fourth quarter alone. du’s mobile subscribers for the full year jumped 104 per cent from 2007 to 2.498 million last year. The company’s fixed line subscriber base also grew by a hefty 72 per cent from 2007 to 280,000 active subscribers in 2008. du said it will spend about Dh1.9 billion this year to expand its fixed and mobile network in the country. “We start 2009 stronger than before, but mindful of potential challenges ahead. We are not complacent – either in terms of our market share or the global economic environment,” said Ahmed bin Byat, chairman of du.

“We will continue our focus on innovation and value for money to develop and launch services that our customers want to use. I feel confident that du is well positioned to prosper throughout 2009 and beyond,” said bin Byat.

du’s shares ended 2.17 per cent lower to Dh1.80 as the Dubai bourse succumbed to profit-taking after a strong surge on Sunday.

· rocel@khaleejtimes.com