Saudi Telecom 7010.SE (STC) said second-quarter net profit beat forecasts to rise 24 percent, on higher income from foreign ventures as well as domestic mobile and broadband services.
STC, the second-largest Arab telecom provider by market value, made a net profit of 3.84 billion riyals ($1.02 billion) in the three months to June 30, compared to 3.1 billion riyals in the same period a year earlier, it said in a statement on the Saudi bourse website.
Annual quarterly profit growth more than doubled compared to the first-quarter when it was at 11.4 percent.
STC beat forecasts by analysts who were betting on a second-quarter profit of between 2.8 billion riyals to 3.51 billion riyals in a Reuters survey last month. [ID:nL30685455]
Operating profit reached 3.91 billion riyals, 21 percent above its level a year earlier.
The company said first-half net profit rose 18 percent to 6.87 billion riyals.
"This (rise) is attributed to increases in revenues of mobile and broadband and a rise in income from foreign investment," it said.
Earnings per share in the second quarter was 1.92 riyals against 1.55 riyals per share a year earlier and 1.51 riyals in the first quarter of this year.
The company will give shareholders a dividend of 1 riyal per share for the second quarter of this year, it added.
Shares of STC were down almost 27 percent this year by Sunday's close, compared with 17.7 percent for the main stock index .TASI and 31 percent for the telecommunications sector index.
The stock closed 2.94 percent higher on Sunday before the results were released.
The company began consolidating the Turkish and South African businesses acquired for $2.56 billion this year through a 35 percent stake in Oger Telecom. Its earlier and first foreign ventures, in Asia and Kuwait, have yet to start making money.
Saud al-Duweish, STC's chief executive officer, said in January the Oger Telecom purchase would boost profit by 4 percent and revenue by 30 percent in 2008.
Saudi Telecom lagged regional rivals in growth terms, having made its first foreign investment last year, taking a 25 percent stake in Malaysia's Maxis in a $3 billion deal that opened up markets in India and Indonesia.
Still, those operations have yet to start making profit, board member Abdul-Rahman Mazi said in January.