Saudi Arabia's Etihad Etisalat (Mobily), which restated 27 months of earnings earlier this year, said rising expenses were to blame as it swung to third-quarter net loss on Wednesday.

Mobily, an affiliate of the United Arab Emirates' Etisalat, made a net loss of SR158 million ($42.1 million) in the three months to September 30, it said in a bourse statement.

That compared with a profit of SR129 million in the prior-year period. NCB Capital had forecast Mobily would make a quarterly profit of SR245 million.

Mobily attributed its quarterly loss to a SR235 million increase in general and administrative expenses, plus an extra SR56 million in finance charges.

In late July, Mobily restated its results for the 27 months to March 31, slashing total profits over the period by about SR1.76 billion in its latest attempt to resolve an accounting scandal. It then reported a second-quarter loss of SR900.9 million.

The company had attributed its woes to the premature booking of revenue from wholesale broadband leases and mobile promotional campaigns and it has also made further changes to the way it accounts for some contracts and the depreciation of property and equipment. - Reuters