Emirates Integrated Telecommunications Company PJSC (du) on Thursday reported a 14.9 per cent increase in fourth-quarter profit to Dh425 million compared to Dh370 million a year ago.
The telecom operator’s revenue for the period rose 0.5 per cent to Dh3.45 billion compared to Dh3.43 billion.
The operator also proposed a final annual dividend payment of Dh997 million bringing the total annual dividend for the year to 35 fils per share, of which 22 fils per share is the final dividend payment for the year, subject to approval at the Annual General Meeting. 13 fils per share was awarded as an interim dividend in October 2017.
“2017 was a strong year for our company, with revenue reaching the mark of AED 13 billion for the first year since inception. As a result of our solid financial performance and a good efficiency programme we can deliver on a sustainable dividend policy in spite of the increasing pressure on the margins of telco service providers globally,” Ahmad Bin Byat, Chairman of EITC, said in a statement.
“The successes achieved last year are an indication that the strategic transformation our company has undertaken is enabling us to adapt to the evolving industry and accommodate the changes in customer and business behavior,” he said.
Osman Sultan, EITC’s Chief Executive Officer, said that net profit after royalty had an excellent growth quarter on quarter, which helped maintain a stable annual net profit after royalty of Dh1.71 billion, recovering from a weak quarter in Q1 2017.
“Growth was supported by the increase in revenue, improvement in gross margin and the impact of our cost optimisation programme. EBITDA margin is solid at 40 per cent for the year,” he said.