Bahrain's Batelco says India stake sale to lift 2012 profit

By Matt Smith
DUBAI (Reuters) - Bahrain Telecommunications Co's (Batelco) sale of its stake in Indian affiliate S Tel will help it achieve double-digit profit growth in 2012, the former monopoly said on Wednesday.
On February 8, Batelco announced it would it sell its 43-percent holding in S Tel for $175 million to its Indian partner, the first exit by a foreign operator since India's Supreme Court cancelled 122 telecoms licences last month amid a corruption probe.
Batelco will receive the same price it paid to acquire the S Tel stake in 2009, with the sale expected to be completed in the fourth quarter.
Batelco said this would help offset falling revenue -- it forecast "low single digit decline" in 2012 -- due to intense competition in Bahrain from rival operators Viva, a unit of Saudi Telecom Co <7010.SE> (STC) and Kuwait's Zain .
Batelco's domestic profit was 67.8 million dinars last year, down 21 percent from 2010, while profit at its Jordan unit Umniah rose 15 percent to 13.6 million dinars over the same period.
Its other affiliates, which include Internet providers in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait and S Tel, swung to a combined profit of 2.4 million dinars in 2011. This compares to a loss of 7.2 million dinars a year earlier.
(Reporting by Matt Smith)