Maroc Telecom reports 7 pct rise in third-quarter profit

RABAT (Reuters) - Maroc Telecom, Morocco's largest telecoms operator, on Monday reported a 7 percent rise in unadjusted third-quarter profit attributable to shareholders compared to the same period last year.

The profit amounted to 4.79 billion dirhams ($506 million) posted on the back of a growth in activity in Morocco where revenue was up 5.1 percent, the company said in a statement.

Total revenue in Morocco and subsidiaries in Africa grew 4.3 percent to 27.137 billion dirhams ($ 2.868 billion), while the EBITDA margin rose 4 percent to 49.7 percent.

The company said its customer base rose 8.1 percent to 61 million citing a growth in demand for its mobile broadband and landlines.

The group operates subsidiaries in Benin, Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast, Gabon, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Togo and the Central African Republic.

Maroc Telecom, listed on both the Casablanca Stock Exchange and Euronext Paris, is 53 percent controlled by the UAE's Etisalat, with the Moroccan state owning 30 percent.

($1=9.4669 Moroccan dirhams)

(Reporting by Ahmed Eljechtimi; editing by David Evans)