* Qtel net profit up 59 percent
* Firm says outlook for H2 seems positive
* Results within expectations, analyst says
(Adds analyst comments, share move)
By Amran Abocar
DUBAI, Aug 16 (Reuters) - Qatar Telecommunications Co (Qtel) on Sunday said quarterly profits jumped 59 percent, buoyed by a one-time gain at its Kuwaiti unit.
Qtel posted net profit of 1,044 billion riyals ($287 million) in the second quarter, up from 658.5 million riyals in the prior-year period.
Qtel booked a 343 million riyal gain after its Kuwait business, National Mobile Telecommunications (Wataniya), won a court ruling reversing provisions it had set aside in a dispute with Kuwait's ministry of communications.
"Certainly it's not an outstanding result, which it appears to be at first glance," said Kunal Bajaj, an analyst at HSBC. "It's more or less in line with expectations."
One analyst had forecast profit of 615 million riyals in the quarter, according to a Reuters survey in July.
Consolidated revenues rose 30 percent to 5.9 billion riyals in the quarter ended June 30, up from 4.6 billion a year ago.
The company, which does not provide earnings forecasts, said the outlook for the second half of the year seemed positive.
"The economic conditions generally are improving," a company spokesman said on a conference call.
Qtel said it earned profit of 1.64 billion riyals in the first half of the year on revenues of 11.54 billion. That is up from 1.2 billion riyals in the same period last year, on revenues of 8.1 billion riyals.
Total customers stood at 52.2 million as of June 30, up 2 percent from the same period last year.
Qtel, which owns a controlling stake in Indonesia's second largest telecoms firm, said Indosat contributed the most to both customer base and revenues, with 29.4 million customers and 3 billion riyals in revenue in the first half of 2009.
Qtel shares closed up 3.28 percent on the Doha index
FLEXIBLE APPROACH
Faced by intensifying competition in their home markets, Gulf Arab telecom firms have been expanding abroad, snapping up assets in Asia and Africa worth billions of dollars.
State-controlled Qtel has expanded rapidly outside its home country into 17 countries, including Kuwait, Iraq, Algeria and Oman.
Its focus has been on acquisitions in the Middle East and North Africa region, the Indian subcontinent as well as south east Asia. Qtel bought a 40.8 percent stake in Indosat in June 2008 and raised its holding to 65 percent in February.
Asked whether Qtel may be eyeing African expansion, the spokesman said: "That's not part of our stated strategy."
"Having said that, we are flexible in our approach. If there is an opportunity which adds shareholder value, we might look at it."
He declined to comment on any Qtel interest in the African assets of Kuwaiti rival Zain which has put those operations on the auction block.
Prime Holding analyst Sleiman Aboulhosn said buying into Africa made sense for expansion given the dearth of new licenses available globally.
"If the price is right, it would definitely be interesting for them and I think they are in a position to be expanding inorganically," he said. "But not all operators can find value in Africa in the current situation. ($1=3.638 Qatari Riyals) (Editing by Bill Tarrant; Editing by Jon Loades-Carter)