Mobily Q1 net up 40 percent net profit in first-quarter

RIYADH: Saudi Arabia's Etihad Etisalat (Mobily), the country's second largest mobile phone operator, reported a 40 percent rise in its first-quarter net profit, coming in just below the average analyst forecast.

The wireless carrier made a net profit of 998 million saudi riyals in ($266 million) the three months to March 31, up from 714 million riyals a year earlier, it said in a statement.

Eight analysts surveyed by Reuters had expected Mobily to report, on average, around 1 billion riyals for the first-quarter.

Revenues rose by 25 percent to 4.48 billion riyals in the quarter while earnings per share was 1.43 riyals after 1.02 riyals in the same quarter a year ago, Emirates Telecommunications (Etisalat) is Mobily's largest shareholder.