Du has fallen short of analysts' expectations, despite reporting soaring profits having won almost 200,000 mobile customers in the past quarter.
The UAE telecommunications firm said its net profit rose to Dh325.5 million (US$88.61m) in the second quarter, after provision for the royalty fee du pays the government.
That represents a 57.1 per cent rise in profits compared with the same period last year, when comparing the figures before royalty payments.
Osman Sultan, the chief executive of du, attributed this to a growth in mobile subscribers and an ongoing efficiency drive.
"We are continuing to witness growth," he said. "Our customer base for mobile increased by more than 196,000 active mobile subscribers."
Despite the year-on-year growth, the results fell short of analysts' expectations when compared to the first quarter of the year.
Analysts polled by Reuters had forecast du would make a profit of Dh332m in the second quarter of this year.
Du, which is listed in Dubai, said revenues had increased by 12.9 per cent to Dh2.45bn in the second quarter, up from Dh2.2bn during the same period last year.
However, revenues rose by just 0.2 per cent in comparison with the first quarter, lower than what some had expected.
Petr Molik, the head of the research division at Mena Corp, said the quarter was "mildly disappointing" after what was a strong start to the year.
"Although the previous quarter was hard to beat, we were surprised by the lack of growth in the top line of Dh2.45bn," he said. "We expected a Dh2.55bn of revenues."
Despite adding subscribers, du's share of the UAE mobile market declined by a fraction to 46.5 per cent compared with rival Etisalat. Mr Sultan acknowledged that the mobile market had become more aggressive in the first half of this year.
Du's second-quarter results come a few days after Etisalat reported positive financials for the same period. The Abu Dhabi-listed company on Wednesday reported a turnaround in its financial performance, having posted a net profit of Dh1.9bn in the second quarter after months of decline.
Etisalat said its net profit had risen by 17 per cent, with revenues up 4 per cent to reach Dh8.252bn in the second quarter of this year.
bflanagan@thenational.ae