Accra, May 17, GNA - The Zain Group recorded first-quarter net income of US$179.1 million, 31 per cent drop from that of the same period last year, a statement by the Group said. The statement quoted Group Board Chairman, Mr Asaad Al Banwan as saying that the drop was partly due to the exclusion of income from its 15 mobile operations in Africa because of the ongoing sale of those operations to Bharti Airtel of India.

He also cited the global financial meltdown as one of the causes of the poor first-quarter showing. Meanwhile the company's consolidated revenues for the same period stood at US$1.146 billion, an increase of 11 per cent compared to the same period last year.

Mr Al Banwan said "despite the economic crisis and the competitive markets in which we operate, we are extremely pleased with the 11 percent revenue increase which is in line with our expectations." The Company's consolidated EBITDA reached also US$483.7 million, recording a one-off gain of US$116 million in the year ago period. "The customer base reached 31.4 million, a 28% increase," the statement said.

Zain had 22 operations across Middle East and Africa, but it entered into a definitive sale agreement with Bharti Airtel on March 30, 2010 for the sale of 15 of its 17 African operations at a cost of US$10.7 billion.

Mr Nabeel Bin Salamah, Zain Group CEO said with the sale of the Zain Africa assets about to be concluded, the company would reengineer itself while at the same time focusing its resources on further increasing market leadership in the Middle East, offering customers the latest technologies and quality mobile services.

Financial analysts in Kuwait say Zain was expecting a profit of US$3.3billion from the sale of the Africa operations, after settling its debts and provision.

The amount would reflect in the second quarter reports of the company. 17 May 10