3.01 PM Friday, 29 March 2024
  • City Fajr Shuruq Duhr Asr Magrib Isha
  • Dubai 04:56 06:10 12:26 15:53 18:37 19:52
29 March 2024

du proposes 2nd dividend for 2012

Published
By Wam

Emirates Integrated Telecommunications Company PJSC ("du") on Tuesday announced its financial results for the full year and the fourth quarter of 2012 and proposed its second dividend payment to shareholders.

Ahmad bin Byat, chairman of du, said: "I can report another year of strong performance across all areas of our business. We are delighted that the directors have recommended the payment of a second dividend. The proposed cash dividend is Dh0.30 per share for 2012, subject to shareholder approval at our annual general meeting in March.

"Competition has intensified and become more complex. Despite this, we again had a record year in terms of revenue and net profit. By the end of 2012 we served 48.7 per cent of the UAE mobile market," he said.

The company chairman said, "Our strong performance is reflected in our net profit before royalty, which was comfortably up on 2011 at Dh2.82 billion. Net profit after royalty was Dh1.98 billion and we welcomed the Ministry of Finance's decision to provide us with visibility for subsequent years, giving us a sustained period of certainty in terms of our liability with respect to royalties payable to the federal government until 2016.

Osman Sultan, du's CEO, said, "In 2012, we achieved revenues of Dh10.16 billion, an increase of 14.71 per cent on 2011. We acquired 1,241,251 net new mobile customers and our overall market share now stands at 48.7 per cent. One of the biggest stories of the year was data. The rapid adoption of smartphones and tablets has continued and consequently growth in mobile data revenues has been significant, increasing by 74 per cent on 2011 and taking overall data revenues to Dh1.76 billion for 2012, representing significantly greater percentage of mobile service revenues, at 22.44 per cent than it did in 2011 when data revenues stood at Dh1.01 billion.

"EBITDA growth for the year reached Dh3.99 billion, 37.10 per cent, representing an EBITDA margin of 39.37 per cent for 2012. Net profit before royalty grew by 55.81 per cent to reach Dh2.82 billion in 2012. The federal government confirmed the royalty charge for 2012 at five per cent of revenue and 17.5 per cent of net profit, resulting in net profit after royalty of Dh1.98 billion.

He added: "We invested more than Dh1.72 billion in our network and IT in 2012. During the year we secured financing amounting to $700 million at competitive rates."