Zain CEO reveals main achievements in first six months

Zain Group, which has presence in eight markets across the Middle East and Africa, has revealed its main achievements for the six months to 30 June 2019.
Zain retail shop

Zain’s mobile subscriber base rose 4 percent to 49.2 million customers at the end of June 2019.

Zain Group generated revenue of $2.7 billion (+61 percent) with EBITDA of $1.17 billion (+109 percent) with EBITDA margin of 44 percent and net income of $321 million (+13 percent) in the first six months of 2019.

Zain said foreign currency translation impact, mainly due to 43 percent currency devaluation in Sudan, cost the Group $101 million in revenue, $44 million in EBITDA and $15 million in net income.

Zain has generated revenue of $1.34 billion (+66 percent), EBITDA of $582 million (+108 percent) with EBITDA margin of 43 percent and net income of $165 million (+10 percent) in the second quarter of 2019.

Zain expanded 4G LTE networks across key markets and launched 5G commercial services in Kuwait. ZTE does not reveal its Capex.

Zain Group’s data revenue grew 114 percent to represent 36 percent of the consolidated revenue.

Zain Group generated first half revenue of $544 million from Kuwait, $1.1 billion from Saudi Arabia, $522 million from Iraq, $138 million (–18 percent) in Sudan, $240 million (stable) in Jordan and $81 million in Bahrain.

“The first six months of 2019 were exceptional as we recorded impressive net income and EBITDA growth in all key operations, namely Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Jordan and Bahrain,” Bader Nasser Al-Kharafi, Zain Group CEO said.