Teletimes April 2011.pdf

Etisalat
general assembly approves dividends at 60%
The General Assembly of
Etisalat has approved the
recommendation of the Board of
Directors to distribute dividends
at 35% of nominal share value
for the second half of 2010.
This makes the total dividend
awarded by Etisalat in 2010 to
be 60%.
Mohammad Omran commented:
“On behalf of Etisalat board
members, I would like to thank
the leadership of the UAE and
the UAE government for their
significant ongoing efforts to
continue to enhance the leading
position of the UAE, and also
for their ongoing strives to
support the technology and ICT
sector in the UAE, particularly
through its advanced laws and
regulations.”
“Further to our efforts to
include our shareholders in the
benefits, we have proposed
a final dividend of AED 0.35
per share, bringing the total
dividends for the year to AED
0.60, in line with our policy in
previous years. This represents
a dividend yield of 6% at the
year-end stock price. We are
pleased that total share returns
for the 12-month period ended
December 31, 2010, including
capital gains and dividends,
were a healthy 13%.”
“This year Etisalat has
witnessed positive growth in
new customer acquisition and
revenues. In Egypt, for example,
Etisalat Misr celebrated its 15
million customer milestone,
and the subsidiary reached
break-even point after only
three years of operations.
Among consolidated operations
where we exercise management
control, the customer base
has increased by 30% while
revenues increased 46%. It is
notable that our international
operations make up 23% of the
Group’s top-line results.”
Omran discussed Etisalat’s
financial position, commenting:
“In line with past years, Etisalat
has maintained its very strong
cash position, a strategy that
is especially relevant given
the recent state of financial
turmoil worldwide. Our healthy
balance sheet has served as
a cushion against the recent
financial shocks, and allowed
us to comfortably finance
our operations and capital
investments. As a testament
to our financial health, we
maintained our investmentgrade
credit rating and positive
outlook from the three major
credit rating agencies.”
“The growth was offset though
by the revenue and earnings
decline in our flagship UAE
operation – which is natural and
expected as our home market
has entered an advanced stage
of saturation and maturity.
As a result, mobile and fixed
services witnessed a modest
decline in operations. Etisalat
UAE management has taken
proactive measures to meet this
new challenge,” he continued.
When discussing technology
advancements, Omran
commented: “We carried on our
strategy of investing rationally
in our network infrastructure
to capture organic demand
within AED 5.8 billion in
capital expenditure. Notably,
we continued to invest in
our country-wide fibreoptic
network as part of our
commitment to keep the UAE at
the global forefront of stateof-the-art
telecommunication
services.”
Omran then went into details
about Etisalat’s acquisition
strategy, saying: “The
corporation maintained its
prudent approach to evaluating
acquisition opportunities that
are in line with its strategy to
expand internationally and add
value to its operations portfolio,
as well as several strategic stake
increases to our existing assets.”
Nasser Bin Obood, Acting Chief
Executive Officer, Etisalat,
commented: “Etisalat continued
its strong track record given
the challenges during 2010,
exhibiting strong performance
in the period under review. We
are confident that Etisalat is
poised to dynamically adapt to
the evolving industry landscape
and our business environment.”
“In general, the global
telecommunications industry
witnessed a slowdown due
to various conditions that
impacted an already highly
saturated UAE market, where
penetration levels are the
highest in the region. This
consequently affected overall
performance. In response to this
effect Etisalat has been working
on innovating new packages
and services such as valueadded
and broadband services,
which should lead to balancing
revenues and profits.”
“That being said, Etisalat
faced local competition
under scrupulous regulations,
including increasing pressure
on international tariffs from
competition and Voice over
Internet Protocol (VoIP) usage.
The market also witnessed
competition in mobile
data, with a focus on smart
phones, which led to voice
revenue disruption in favour
of data revenues – a natural
phenomenon in light of the
technological advancement
and introduction of a new
generation of services and
handset equipment, continued
Bin Obood. T
40 www.teletimesinternational.com
15Apr - 14May 2011