The resilience of international activities partially offset the decline in revenues in Morocco, which were hit by the Covid-19 crisis. The group’s customer base increased by 4.3 percent to 70.5 million compared to 2019, with subsidiary customer bases up by 7.3 percent, fixed lines up by 6.7 percent and fixed broadband customers up by 10.4 percent in Morocco.
Group adjusted EBITDA reached MAD 14.36 billion at the end of September, down by 0.3 percent, with a 6.7 percent rise in adjusted EBITDA from international activities but a decrease in Morocco. The adjusted EBITDA margin increased by 0.2 percentage points to 52.2 percent.
The adjusted group share of net income was MAD 4.53 billion, down 2.6 percent from MAD 4.65 billion in 2019. As a result of effective management of investments adapted to the current crisis, capex was down 38.5 percent to MAD 2.03 billion from MAD 4.60 billion in 2019. Adjusted cash flow from operations amounted to MAD 11.22 billion, up 22.4 percent because of the decline in capex.
In Morocco, revenues reached MAD 15.73 billion, down 3.6 percent because of lower mobile revenues. Deprived of income from tourism and Moroccans living abroad, the mobile segment suffered from the effects of Covid-19, especially regarding incoming international traffic and roaming. This decline was mitigated by the increase in fixed line revenues of 2.0 percent over the nine-month period.
Moroccan EBITDA contracted by 4.0 percent year-on-year to MAD 8.97 billion. The adjusted EBITDA margin was 57.0 percent, a slight decrease of 0.3 percentage points. The mobile subscriber base was 19.7 million customers, down 2.8 percent year-on-year due to the effects of the health crisis. Mobile revenues fell 5.5 percent to MAD 10.13 billion.
In international operators, revenue rose by 4.4 percent to MAD 12.52 billion from MAD 11.99 billion in 2019. Capex declined by 60 percent to MAD 1.15 billion from MAD 2.87 billion in 2019. EBITDA reached MAD 5.39 billion, up 6.7 percent. This performance is mainly due to the improvement in the gross margin and ongoing efforts to optimise operating costs.
