Qtel Q4 net profit down 5% on provisions

Qatar Telecommunications Co (Qtel) posted a 5.2 percent drop in fourth-quarter net profit on Tuesday on increased provisions taken by some of its subsidiaries, trailing average forecasts.
The company reported a fourth-quarter net profit of QR451.9m ($124m), down from QR476.5m in the year-earlier period.
Full-year profit stood at of QR2.9bn, up 2.2 percent from the previous year, a statement said.
The board recommended a cash dividend of QR5 per share and a 20 percent bonus share distribution, the statement said.
 A Qtel spokesman said that the drop in quarterly profit was due to provisions taken by some subsidiaries, but declined to specify which.
Qtel, which operates in 17 countries, has expanded rapidly abroad to mitigate the loss of its monopoly after Vodafone Qatar, a unit of Britain’s Vodafone, entered the Gulf Arab state’s market.
The company benefited from foreign exchange movements in Indonesia, and saw greater-than-expected growth in Iraq, he said.
Qtel does not expect to be heavily affected by regional strife in the Middle East, the spokesman said.
“This is a temporary phase, things will settle down. The telecom business is one that tends to thrive even in uncertain times. We’ve only seen some sporadic incidents here and there.”
Qtel’s $1.5bn bond sale in October attracted subscriptions exceeding $15bn. The company launched a $500m six-year bond and a $1bn 10-year bond priced at 3.375 percent and 4.75 percent respectively.
It later launched a $1.25bn two-part debt issuance.
Qtel’s focus has been on acquisitions in the Middle East and North Africa region, the Indian subcontinent as well as south east Asia.
Qtel in 2008 bought a 40.8 percent stake in Indosat, Indonesia’s second-biggest mobile telephone company, later raising its holding to 65 percent in a bid to tap growth potential in the world’s most populous Muslim country.