First quarter results show lower profitability

AMMAN — Net after-tax profit generated by Jordan Telecom Group (JTG) during the first quarter of 2015 amounted to JD8.6 million, 30.1 per cent lower than the JD12.3 million recorded during the same period of 2014.

According to the financial statement as of March 31,2015 disclosed to the Amman Stock Exchange, the operational income after deducting administrative, selling, marketing and other expenses as well as depreciation and amortisation,  dropped by 27.7 per cent from JD14.8 million at the end of March 2014 to JD10.7 million at the end of March 2015.

Noting that net earnings amounted to JD79.8 million and that cost of services was JD35 million during the first quarter of this year, the gross profit came at JD44.8 million compared to JD45.1 million during the first quarter of 2014 when net earnings totalled JD84.6 million and the cost of services stood at JD39.5 million.

A breakdown of the earnings indicates that Orange Fixed contributed JD32.9 million at the end of March 2015, (JD36.7 million end of March 2014); Orange Mobile supplied JD34 million (JD36.1 million); Orange Internet brought in JD12.8 million (JD11.8 million).

The balance sheet at the end of the first quarter of 2015 shows total assets at JD596 million compared to JD599.3 million at the end of the first quarter of 2014.

Of the total, JD354.7 million are current assets (JD305.9 million) and JD241.2 million (JD293.4 million) are fixed assets.

JTG earned JD1 million in income from its short-term deposits at banks which totaled around JD101.4 million at the end of March 2015. The group earned JD2.1 million from JD190.2 million in bank deposits at the end of March 2014.

The March 2015 balance sheet also showed total liabilities at JD232.8 million of which JD3.9 million were long-term debt, compared to JD4.3 million long-term debt at the end of March 2014 when total liabilities amounted to JD244.8 million.