Kuwait telecoms giant Zain's net profits dropped slightly in the second quarter of 2014 but ended the first six months up as the firm keeps investing in upgrades and expansion. Zain said its net profits in the April-June period dropped 3.0 percent to 59.1 million dinars ($210.1 million) compared to 61 million dinars ($217 million) in the same period of 2013.
Overall net profits of Kuwait's largest mobile operator, however, increased in the first half by about 2.0 percent to 115 million dinars ($409.2 million) from 113 million dinars ($402.1 million) a year ago, it said in a statement. "It is encouraging to see customer and revenue growth across many of our key operations, a direct result of significant investments in upgrading and expanding our networks," chairman Asad al-Banwan said. Over the past 12 months, the company added 2.1 million new clients and its total subscribers rose to 46.5 million on June 30, 2014 across eight countries. Besides Kuwait, Zain has operations in Bahrain, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia and Sudan. It also manages a unit in Morocco.