Emirates Integrated Telecommunications Company (EITC), also known as Du, announced its financial results for the year-ended 31st December 2022.
Net profit for the year reached AED 1.22 billion as higher EBITDA and lower net finance costs were offset by an increase in depreciation and royalty charges.
Full-year revenues grew by 9.2 percent to AED 12.75 billion on sustained demand for broadband services and 5G handsets as well as a gradual recovery of mobile services.
Revenues in Q4 staged a remarkable growth (+8.0 percent) thanks to continued strength in service revenues. Full-year EBITDA grew by 12.0 percent to AED 5.14 billion reflecting strong growth in service revenues and margin expansion as well as containment of cost increase despite inflationary pressure.
In 2022, EITC invested AED 2.2 billion as evidenced by the rapid 5G network roll-out. Operating Free Cash Flow (EBITDA – Capex) for the year increased by 47.3 percent to AED 2.9 billion thanks to higher EBITDA and the start of normalisation of capex spend.
On the basis of these solid results, the Board recommends increasing the full-year dividend to 24 fils per share, out of which 11 fils per share were paid as an interim dividend in August 2022.
Malek Sultan Al Malek, Chairman, commented, “Our results confirm the success of our strategy and the efficiency of our operating model. I am optimistic that the management team will continue to deliver on our objectives.”
Fahad Al Hassawi, CEO, said, “We will continue on the same path to become a leading digital telecom operator. We have proved that we can innovate to push growth in our business. We will continue to invest in our infrastructure and in our people to accelerate innovation and continue our transformation programme.”