Tuesday, Aug 14, 2012
DUBAI (Zawya Dow Jones)--Egypt's Orascom Telecom Holding (ORTE.CI) said Tuesday it swung to a second-quarter net profit of $27 million as it increased the number of subscribers and data usage.
In the year earlier period, Orascom Telecom reported a net loss of $58 million, according to an emailed statement.
The net profit for the latest quarter fell short of the $57 million that Cairo-based EFG-Hermes had predicted. It also missed Beltone Financial's forecast of $70 million.
Orascom Telecom said the total number of subscribers at the end of June was up 15% from the same period last year, reaching more than 83 million customers.
Revenue for the second quarter rose 9% to $934 million.
"Consolidated revenues recorded an organic growth of 9% year-on-year, resulting from strong subscriber growth and an increase in data and value-added services uptake in our main subsidiaries, namely in Algeria, Pakistan and Bangladesh," said Chief Executive Ahmed Abou Doma said in the statement.
Last year, Russian mobile operator VimpelCom acquired the assets of Wind Telecom, Orascom Telecom's parent company, in a deal worth $6 billion.
Orascom Telecom shares closed Tuesday up 1.1% at 3.65 Egyptian pounds ($0.60) on the Egyptian Stock Exchange.
Write to Shereen El Gazzar at shereen.elgazzar@dowjones.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
14-08-12 1759GMT
