Emirates Integrated Telecommunications Company PJSC published its financial results for Q4 and the full-year 2023. Full-year revenues grew by 6.9% to AED 13.64 billion, highlighting sustained demand for mobile services, and strong growth in postpaid and fixed services. Full-year EBITDA surged by 12.8% to AED 5.80 billion, reflecting top line growth combined with margin expansion and disciplined cost management. Full-year net profit reached AED 1.67 billion— a 36.8% increase year-over-year, mainly underlining strong EBITDA growth. Full-year CapEx was stable at AED 2.2 billion and operating free cash flow (EBITDA – CapEx) for the year substantially rose by 23.2% to AED 3.6 billion.
Based on these positive outcomes, the Board recommends increasing the full-year dividend to 34 fils per share, out of which 13 fils per share were already paid in August 2023 as an interim dividend.
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2023 Operating Highlights
du’s mobile customer base grew 8.3% YoY to 8.6 million subscribers. The company’s strong net-additions in the last quarter (456,000) were mainly driven by a significant increase in prepaid customers benefitting from seasonality and promotional campaigns. The postpaid customer base also witnessed a robust 10.5% growth YoY, reaching 1.6 million (Q4 2023 net additions: 63,000), driven by data centric plans and attractive offers.
du’s fixed customer base rose by 12.6% YoY, ending the year with 604,000 subscribers— with full-year 2023 net-additions of 68,000 as a result of ongoing commercial efforts in various product categories and the successful implementation of a broadband strategy.
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Commenting on the results, Malek Sultan Al Malek, Chairman of Emirates Integrated Telecommunications Company PJSC, said, “In 2023, Emirates Integrated Telecommunications Company stayed committed to its objective of driving positive changes in the digital and technological arena within the UAE. Additionally, we provided extensive support for government initiatives and policies aimed at accelerating economic and social development, empowering business communities, and enhancing the quality of life for the residents of the UAE. The robust macroeconomic environment and our strong commercial momentum has enabled us to achieve significant milestones and excellent financial results.”
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Meanwhile, Fahad Al Hassawi, CEO of du, said, “2023 has been a transformational year for du. Our relentless determination and focus have enabled us to deliver on our current strategy while laying out a solid foundation for future growth in both our core business and beyond.
We achieved significant operational milestones including the expansion of our 5G to 98.5% population coverage, increased digitalization of our customer touchpoints with over 75% of our customer interactions moving online and growing our strategic partnerships with key institutions in the UAE. This year, du delivered a historic financial performance, posting the highest revenues, gross margin and EBITDA in our company’s history, driven by a strong performance in our core business combined with accelerating growth in our new business ventures and continued focus on operating efficiency and disciplined cost management. We continued investing in our future growth, with AED 2.2 billion CapEx in 2023 deployed in our core infrastructure and IT, underscoring our commitment to digital transformation.
In 2024, we aim to execute our strategy and continue building upon our strong financial performance, reinforcing our leadership in our core business through a differentiated digital-first approach, leveraging our platform for disruptive customer-centric innovation, and harnessing structural efficiencies across our operations while expanding our new business venture and enhancing our customer experience.”
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