UAE telecom Etisalat Q2 net profit falls 19 pct

The company made a net profit of 4.59 billion dirhams in the first half of the year, compared with 5 billion dirhams a year earlier, the firm said in a statement, adding that last year's results included 892 million dirhams earned from an asset sale.

Analysts had forecast on average that the second-quarter profit would be about 2.22 billion dirhams, in a Reuters survey earlier this month.

Earnings per share were 0.64 dirham in the first half versus 0.70 dirham a year earlier, the statement said, adding that last year's figure would be 0.58 dirham excluding income from the asset sale.

Revenues grew 10 percent in the first half to 14.74 billion dirhams versus 13.40 billion dirhams a year earlier while total assets stood at 67.24 billion at end-June 2009, up 7 percent.

Reuters calculated the quarterly profit based on previous financial statements. Etisalat reported net profit attributable to shareholders of 2.99 billion dirhams in the second quarter of 2008 and 2.18 in the first quarter of this year. (Reporting by Stanley Carvalho; Editing by Firouz Sedarat)