At the end of the third quarter ending on 30 September 2015, the area has been a growth engine for the revenues of Itissalat Al-Maghrib, the Moroccan operator better known as Maroc Telecom. A contribution which was strengthened by the integration of its new subsidiaries (Côte d’Ivoire, Benin, Togo, Gabon, Niger, Central African Republic and Prestige Telecom which supplies IT services to the former), bought on 25 January 2015.

The activities of the group abroad thus registered a turnover of 10.22 billion Dirhams over the period, an increase of 60.3%, due to the expansion of its turnover area, and of 6.5% on comparable basis (without acquisitions). This performance positively impacted on the consolidated turnover, which peaked at 25.5 billion Dirhams, an increase of 16.6% compared to 2014. “On comparable basis, this turnover has increased by 1.7% due to a limited decrease of 0.2% of the turnover in Morocco, compensated by the sustained growth of the revenues of the activities abroad (+6.5%)”, IAM commented in a communiqué. However, it is worth noting that only the third quarter distinguished itself through the revival of activities in Morocco (+3.3%), thanks to a firm landline activity (+9.2%) and the resistance of the Mobile activity in an environment which has turned much more competitive.

In these conditions, the operating result before depreciation (EBITDA) of Maroc Telecom reached 12.75 billion Dirhams over the first three quarters of the year, an increase of 6.2% (+1.0% on comparable basis). This progress of the EBITDA on comparable basis reflects the decrease of 2.2% of the EBITDA in Morocco which is compensated by the noticeable increase of 8.6% of this indicator on the foreign markets.

If the revenues strengthened, the profit margin on the other hand slackened. The net profit attributable to shareholders has decreased by 6.2% due to the financial expenditure on the acquisition and integration of the new subsidiaries. During the third quarter only, the drop in the net income attributable to shareholders was however limited to -2.6% due to the growth of the activity.

In the same time, the net operating cash flows decreased by 9.4% compared to the same period in 2014 due to the payment of the 4G licence in Morocco (910 million Dirhams) and the renewal of the 2G licence in Mauritania for 301 million Dirhams. The group is however planning for more, up to 20% of its turnover, for operations other than licence and frequency acquisitions.

The management of the company is rather pleased with the results. “These results express the success of our offers on our markets in Morocco and sub-Saharan Africa, as well as the relevance of our differentiation strategy through the performance and quality of our network infrastructure. Our continued investments in the very high speed landline and mobile broadband will support and consolidate the profitable growth of the Group”, Abdelslam Ahizoune, President of the Board of Directors of Maroc Telecom, declared.

The Moroccan financial market (Casablanca Stock Market) slightly moved on 26 October, the day of the publication of those results. The IAM stock ended with an increase of 0.6%. A small increase, which however compensates for the drops on 21 and 22 October. The share rotation volume, at 5.8 million Dirhams, was at its highest for the period covering the past 5 days.