Abu Dhabi: At Etisalat’s Annual General Meeting (AGM), held at the company’s headquarters in Abu Dhabi, shareholders have backed the board’s recommendation to pay full-year 2018 dividends of 80 fils per share and approved the proposal of lifting restrictions on foreign shareholders voting rights.

Etisalat Group consolidated revenues reached Dhs52.4 billion while consolidated net profit after Federal Royalty reached Dhs8.6 billion an increase of 2.4% compared to the same period last year.

At the AGM, Eissa Mohamed Al-Suwaidi, Chairman, Etisalat Group said: “Our journey in 2018, marks another successful year for Etisalat in realizing its vision towards driving the digital future to empower societies. As a group, we focused on strengthening our core business, expanding and enriching our digital portfolio, and diversifying into new growth opportunities. We have increased the effort on transforming Etisalat into an agile and more efficient company.

“With the emergence of the digital era, there have been dynamic changes and rapid developments in the global telecom sector. Etisalat maintained its leadership position as it continued to transition to a digital organization both internally and externally. Our operating companies worked in line with the overall strategy and managed to enhance synergy at group level, progressed with our digital vision and elevated competitiveness in their respective markets.

He highlighted: “Etisalat Group continued to achieve strong financial performance and maintained its high credit rating reflecting its efforts to provide value to shareholders, which was the drive behind proposing a final dividend of Dh 0.4 per share, bringing the total dividends for the year to Dh 0.80, in line with our policy in previous years. This represents a dividend yield of 4.7% and dividends payout ratio of around 81%. In addition, the company enhanced its corporate governance by recommending lifting of restrictions on voting rights of foreign shareholders.

“Etisalat’s infrastructure is built to enable digital transformation, to nurture innovation, and to provide superb customer experience, it is a competitive edge that will remain a strategic priority at group level. Our mobile and fixed networks in majority of operating markets are amongst the best within their local markets or surpassed their geographical boundaries and led at global scale. For UAE as an example, Etisalat have the widest LTE coverage globally and among the global leaders when it comes to fiber network penetration.

“We are honored to be the trusted partner of governments in many national and strategic projects, and we are proud that our network investments and initiatives are supporting the countrywide telecom infrastructure indexes in markets that we operate in. For UAE, we have partnered with concerned governmental entities to fulfill our leadership ICT vision through dedicated initiatives that enhance penetration and coverage of key services. Ultimately, the integration of efforts has ranked UAE as number 2 in Telecom Infrastructure Index (TII) in 2018 as opposed to 25 in 2016.

He emphasised: “As Etisalat continues its journey, it allows new opportunities with every generation of technology that it adopts. Etisalat envisions 5G as a stepping-stone to unlimited potential, a technology that will enable new use cases, widen possibilities, and enhance value creation. Hence, we were the first to launch the first commercial 5G network in UAE and the region achieving another technological milestone for the company. The fifth generation of the network will fuel digital transformation, IoT, smart cities and the fourth industrial evolution.

“Etisalat was ranked as the most valuable brand portfolio in MENA for the 3rd consecutive year, a testimonial of its power and a translation of its sincere efforts to provide customers with great service, compelling offers, and value for money. Etisalat Group was the first Middle East company to break the $10 billion barrier in terms of wider portfolio value.

He added: “Our geographic footprint today continues to present substantial opportunities and at the same time, some challenges. Etisalat has always seen beyond the obstacles and acted diligently to protect the long-term interests of its shareholders by optimizing and maintaining a healthy business portfolio and continue to seek good opportunities to grow as a company.

“Today, we look at the future with confidence and optimism as we are determined to progress on solid grounds and continue innovation while focusing on driving the digital transformation to take advantage of future opportunities that will enable us to add greater value to our customers and shareholders.

“I would like to thank the leadership of UAE, President His Highness Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, His Highness  Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President, Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai, His Highness Sheikh Mohamed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces for their continued support to Etisalat Group and the telecom sector.

Business Bureau, Gulf Today