Kuwait-based telecommunications company Zain Group’s CEO - Operations has resigned and will leave the company within 10 days, the company announced in a statement. Scott Gegenheimer’s last working day with the company will be on November 15th, with his departure announced on the same day the company released third quarterly results.
The financial statement showed a 1% decrease in revenues year-on-year to KWD408 million (USD1.3 billion), while EBITDA decreased 9% annually to KWD166 million. The company booked a profit of KD 54.35 million ($177.4 million) for Q3 2020, down from KD 63.84 million ($208.37 million) posted during the same time in 2019. Profits for the first nine months of 2020 were at KD 149.88 million ($488.93 million), down from KD 177.92 million ($580.69 million) during the same period in 2019.
Zain claims its ‘resilient results’ were achieved despite the widespread disruption in economic and social activity. To counter the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on Zain Group financials, management took cost optimization measures in areas such as contracts renegotiation, management of cashflows and loan repayments, which succeeded in reducing operational expenses by USD130 million.
The company, which recorded 49.1 million active customers across eight Middle East and African countries, also announced that its group chief technology officer Hisham Mostafa Allam will be the new CEO of subsidiary Zain Sudan, where the company has close to 1 million customers. Nawaf Hisham Abdel Rahman Al-Gharabally will replace him as chief technology officer.
Earlier this week, the company announced that it was handing back the management of Lebanese mobile operator Touch Company to new management appointed by Lebanon’s Ministry of Communications, but said there was no material or financial impact from the decision.
