du Posts 10.8% Profit Gain for Nine Months as Revenue Reaches $3.4B
The Dubai-listed operator's nine-month net profit reached $658.4 million on revenue of $3.4 billion, with a 20-year licence renewal and index inclusion also landing in the third quarter.
Emirates Integrated Telecommunications Company, the Dubai-listed operator known as du, posted a 10.8% year-on-year increase in net profit to AED 2.42 billion ($658.4 million) for the first nine months of 2026, with revenue up 6.2% to AED 12.34 billion ($3.4 billion). The figures were disclosed to the Dubai Financial Market on Wednesday.
EBITDA rose 9.2% to AED 6.01 billion ($1.6 billion), and the EBITDA margin widened 1.3 percentage points to 48.7% from 47.3%. Service revenue, the larger component, grew 6.8% to AED 9.05 billion ($2.5 billion) from AED 8.35 billion ($2.3 billion) a year earlier. Other revenue added 4.5% to reach AED 3.29 billion ($896.7 million), against AED 3.12 billion ($858.5 million).
Operating free cash flow for the nine months climbed 5.7% to AED 4.32 billion ($1.2 billion). Capital expenditure rose faster, up 19.1% to AED 1.68 billion ($458.6 million), lifting capital intensity to 13.6% from 12.2%.
In the third quarter alone, revenue rose 7.1% to AED 4.15 billion ($1.13 billion), helped by fixed-line services, information and communications technology and wholesale operations. Net profit for the quarter increased 7.3% to AED 786 million ($214 million) from the same period in 2025, while EBITDA grew 6.7% to AED 1.98 billion ($537.8 million). The quarterly EBITDA margin was 47.7%, against 47.8% a year earlier.
Mobile revenue in the quarter grew 3.9% to AED 1.8 billion ($490.1 million). Fixed-line revenue rose 7.1% to AED 1.2 billion ($326.8 million). Other revenue climbed 12.6% to AED 1.13 billion ($306.3 million), driven by wholesale and ICT services and by handset and accessories sales following the launch of Apple's iPhone 18.
The mobile customer base reached 9.5 million by the end of September, up 3.3%. Postpaid customers rose 6.4% in the quarter to 2 million, and prepaid subscribers were up 2.5% at 7.4 million. Fixed-line subscribers grew 5.2% to 756,000, supported by demand for home wireless services. du said subscriber growth had moderated amid regional economic pressures.
During the quarter the operator secured a 20-year renewal of its telecommunications licence, and its existing royalty regime was extended for three years. It was also added to the MSCI UAE Standard Index and the FTSE All-World Index after meeting eligibility requirements tied mainly to share liquidity.
Those inclusions matter beyond the quarter. Index membership brings du into the investable universe of institutional funds that track the benchmarks, widening the pool of buyers for a stock listed on a single regional exchange. The licence renewal removes a long-horizon question for a company spending more each quarter on the infrastructure behind its enterprise push.
Capital spending rose 31.5% year on year in the third quarter, and quarterly operating free cash flow slipped 2.3%. du is directing more money into data centres, cloud infrastructure and network upgrades as it builds out its enterprise technology business.
du ranked 42nd on a 2026 list of the 100 most valuable Middle East companies. CEO Fahad Al Hassawi, who has led the company since 2021, placed sixth in the technology and telecommunications category of a 2026 sustainability leaders list.
Shares traded at AED 12.18 ($3.32) at 12:43 AST Arabia on Thursday, up 0.8% from the previous session, giving the company a market capitalisation of AED 55.21 billion ($15.03 billion).
