The Ordinary General Assembly of Zain Group approved the distribution of cash dividends of 25 fils per share, for the second half of the year ending on December 31, 2022, and the group had approved the distribution of semi-annual cash dividends of 10 fils per share, bringing the total cash dividends distributed for the entire year to 35 fils. This is for the fiscal year ending on December 31, 2022.
The General Assembly meeting which was held recently, and attended by 80.1 percent members, approved a new policy for distributing profits at a value of 35 fils per share, as a minimum for a period of three years, starting from the 2023 distributions, reports Al-Qabas daily.
Zain Group announced strong annual financial results, as annual net profits rose to about 196 million dinars (640 million dollars), a growth rate of 6%, and earnings per share reached 45 fils, while revenues jumped 14% to about 1.7 billion dinars ($5.6 billion) and EBITDA profits grew by 7% to about 673 million dinars (2.2 billion dollars), while the EBITDA profit margin for this period amounted to about 39%.
This period witnessed a growth in the size of the customer base by 7% to reach about 52.4 million customers, as the group benefited from data services offers, while the group’s investments in upgrading and developing its networks pushed the data sector’s revenues to achieve strong growth rates of about 5% — 40 of the combined revenue.
Ahmed Al-Tahous, Chairman of the Board of Directors, said, “Digital technologies have brought with them wide prospects for forming smarter and more inclusive economies, and have increased their connection to regional and international communications and information networks.
He went on to say, broadband services and digital platforms are feeding the productivity of institutions and companies. and emerging businesses, and in the midst of these developments, the Board of Directors focused on adopting strategies that give priority to services designed in a way that enables us to benefit from the acceleration of the adoption of digital services, and to rely on our acquired knowledge experiences, to lay solid foundations for achieving our goal (building a sustainable digital communications company).
For his part, Bader Nasser Al-Kharafi, Vice Chairman and CEO of Zain Group, said, “During this period, Zain focused on the profitable growth opportunities offered by digital innovations, and exploring new horizons in emerging business sectors in the fields of information and communications technology, digital infrastructure, and financial technology.” and technological solutions.
He explained, “The increasing demand for reliable, high-speed connectivity highlights our continuous investments in purchasing spectrum licenses, modernizing fourth-generation networks, and deploying home internet networks (FTTH) and fifth generation. Our goal is to generate healthy revenues, provide attractive content services, in addition to providing preferential services in the projects and business sector for governments and institutions.