Vodafone Qatar raises 2026 outlook after profit rises 23.7% to 611 million riyals
Key Facts
Vodafone Qatar said net profit reached 611 million Qatari riyals in the nine months ended September 30, 2026, up 23.7% from the year-earlier period, and raised its full-year guidance after the period’s performance and greater visibility on the fourth quarter. The company said growth reflected an expansion in service revenue and improved cost management, while third-quarter net profit alone rose 27.1% to 210 million Qatari riyals. This detail places the reported profit increase in the nine-month results, not in the third quarter alone. The results also showed services growing faster than total revenue during the period. Profitability improved as well, with the EBITDA margin rising, according to company data cited by The Peninsula Qatar.
Service revenue rose 8.1% to 2.4 billion Qatari riyals in the nine months, while total revenue increased 4.7% to 2.7 billion riyals. The company attributed service performance to growth in its core segments, which include mobile, managed services, fixed broadband, the Internet of Things and wholesale. It said the increase, alongside cost discipline, supported net profit growth at a faster pace than revenue. EBITDA rose 10.9% to 1.2 billion riyals during the period. Its margin was 45%, while the underlying margin excluding equipment reached 49.5%, according to The Peninsula Qatar.
Despite service growth, the company faced pressure from geopolitical challenges and temporary shipping and logistics disruptions, management said on the results call. Equipment and other revenue fell by 56 million Qatari riyals over the nine months. But equipment revenue rose 22% year on year in the third quarter, according to the call transcript published on Stock Analysis. The differing trends between the cumulative period and the latest quarter reflect an improvement in equipment revenue over the three months, despite its decline alongside other revenue over the nine months. Management said performance in core service segments and cost controls helped support results amid those pressures.
Mobile customers totaled 2.1 million in the nine months to September 30, up 1.2% year on year, according to The Peninsula Qatar. The company also generated operating free cash flow of 669 million Qatari riyals in the first nine months of 2026. These indicators provide a picture of the customer base and operating liquidity alongside revenue and profit growth. The company’s financial year begins on January 1 and ends on December 31, after it changed its year-end from March 31 to December 31 in a decision taken at a meeting on October 18, 2017, according to its investor information. The reported results therefore cover the first nine months of calendar year 2026, while the updated guidance extends to the full financial year.
The company raised its 2026 revenue growth guidance to a range of 6%-8%, from a previous indication of growth in the mid-single digits, according to the results call transcript. It also raised its EBITDA margin range to 44%-45% from a previous level above 43.5%, and narrowed its net profit growth guidance to 15%-17% from growth in the mid-teens. It kept its capital expenditure intensity guidance at 14.5%-15.5%. Management tied the guidance update to nine-month performance and greater visibility on the fourth quarter, rather than the third-quarter result alone. In trading on October 26, 2026, Vodafone Qatar shares closed at 2.420 riyals, up 3.20%, with 3.64 million shares traded, according to Investing.com.