Dr Mahmoud Ahmad Abdul Rahman, VIVA’s Chairman Dr Mahmoud Ahmad Abdul Rahman, VIVA’s
Chairman

KUWAIT: VIVA, Kuwait's fastest-growing and most developed telecom operator, announced its financial results for the nine-month period to September 30, 2015. The company delivered strong performance operational at all business levels with net profit of KD 32.8 million, an increase of 12% compared to the same period last year.

Reaping such results is a testament about VIVA's constant commitment to providing high quality services to its clients and increasing operational efficiency to create more value and higher revenues to shareholders, and the company's contribution to the growth and development of the telecom industry in Kuwait.

Nine-month period ended September 2015 financial highlights:

* Total revenues reached KD 204 million, a growth of 17% when compared to KD 174 million in the corresponding period last year.

* Operational profit amounted KD 38 million, an increase of 17%, compared to KD 32 million in nine-month period 2014.

* Net profit reached KD 32.8 million, representing an increase of 12% compared to KD 29.3 million in nine-month period 2014.

* Earnings per share increased during nine-month period 2015 to reach 66 fils compared to 59 fils in nine-month period 2014.

* The customer base has increased by 1% reaching 2.4 million by end of September 2015 compared to the same period 2014.

Dr Mahmoud Ahmad Abdul Rahman, VIVA's Chairman, commenting on the financial results: "The excellent financial results posted by VIVA, represent groundbreaking achievements consistently delivered throughout the year. This milestone achieved by the hard work and dedication of VIVA's Board of Directors, senior management, and employees to maintain the highest professional standards in the workplace, while serving the best interests of the company and its valued customers. Our strong performance also reflected our efforts and devotion to achieving excellent results in Kuwait's competitive telecom market."

"VIVA was able to generate KD 32.8 million in net profit (earnings per share of 66 fils) in nine-month period 2015 compared to KD 29.3 million (earning per share 59 fils) in the corresponding period last year. These results reveal the solid performance of the company's revenues and operations through the continued upward trend of financial and operational indicators. This reflected positively on shareholder equity which reached KD 82.7 million, a 113% increase compared to the corresponding period in 2014," Dr. Abdul Rahman added.

"The strong performance of revenues and profitability was yet another great achievement by VIVA. This enabled the company to maintain its leading edge while guaranteeing cash flow and generating positive returns for our shareholders. VIVA's commitment to continuous improvement of customer service quality and profitability will help improve growth opportunities in the long term. It will also enable the company to create more value for our customers and shareholders in the future", Dr. Abdul Rahman concluded.

Eng Salman Bin Abdul Aziz Al-Badran, VIVA's Chief Executive Officer stated: "The positive indicators reflected by the nine-month period 2015 financial results met our goals, reaffirming the company's effective strategy skilfully implemented throughout its operations while safeguarding shareholder equity and ensuring the highest return for them.

"VIVA was able to accomplish this growth in an extremely competitive telecom market in Kuwait. VIVA was able to maintain its position as the second largest telecom operator in the Kuwaiti market in term of subscribers and revenues, which positively affected the company's financial performance, expanded our market share while increasing our customer base by 1% to reach 2.4 million subscribers at the end of September 2015. Total revenues reached KD 204 million, representing a strong growth of 17% compared to the same period last year," added Al-Badran.

"VIVA's commercial presence across Kuwait has been expanded, as we are reaching currently 70 branches", continued Al-Badran.

Abdulaziz Abdullah Al Qatie, VIVA's Chief Financial Officer said: "VIVA's performance continued to be steady and strong which enhanced the company's main financial indicators, and increased its customer base. This has positively affected free cash flow, which has reached KD 32 million at the end of the nine-month period of 2015, reflecting a growth of 292?, compared to the same period in 2014. We will continue our hard work in implementing our strategy to increase our competitive edge and achieve further growth and success in the next period."