Zain KSA Net Profit Rises 45% on One-Off Universal Service Fund Income
The Saudi operator's nine-month profit of SAR 541 million leaned on a SAR 127 million Universal Service Fund payment, while revenue set a record.
Zain KSA's net profit rose 45% year on year to SAR 541 million ($144.2 million) across the first three quarters of 2026. One line item did much of the work: SAR 127 million ($33.9 million) of one-off income from the Universal Service Fund. Without it, the growth curve looks considerably shallower.
Revenue hit a record for the period. The operator booked SAR 8.1 billion, SAR 46 million more than a year earlier. In dollars that is $2.171 billion, up $12.27 million. Twelve months ago revenue stood at SAR 8 billion, or $2.2 billion.
Handset sales fell. The revenue mix improved anyway, and gross profit climbed 3% to SAR 4.98 billion ($1.3 billion) — a gain of SAR 130 million ($34.7 million) the company credits to the richer mix rather than to device volumes.
Further down the income statement the trend is less even. EBITDA came in at SAR 2.5 billion ($669.6 million), down SAR 11 million ($2.9 million) year on year. Operating profit rose 2% to SAR 913 million ($243.5 million). Depreciation and amortisation dropped SAR 27 million ($7.2 million), largely because some assets have now been fully written down.
Investors were unimpressed. The shares traded at SAR 8.85 ($2.36) by 10:50 am Arabia Standard Time on Wednesday, down 2.43%.
At group level, Zain has been reshaping its footprint. October brought the first closing of a tower joint venture with Qatar's Ooredoo, held 50-50 and carrying some 4,000 towers split between Kuwait and Qatar. In June the group secured a licence to run a mobile network in Syria, a deal that could carry more than $1.5 billion of telecom infrastructure spending. Zain expects to launch the Zain Syria brand commercially in the first quarter of 2027.
The group placed 64th in a 2026 ranking of the region's 100 most valuable companies. Bader Al-Kharafi, its Vice Chairman and Group CEO, took third place in the Technology & Telecom category of a 2026 list of Middle East sustainability leaders.
The Universal Service Fund payment flatters a profit line that the underlying business grew only modestly. What comes next depends on capital. Tower disposals and a Syrian build-out both absorb money before they return any, and EBITDA is already heading in the wrong direction.
