Kuwait Telecommunications Company (stc), a world-class digital leader providing innovative services and platforms to customers, enabling the digital transformation in Kuwait, announces winning the 1st position as “the Leading Corporate Investor Relations”, in addition to its position amongst the top 5 companies in the Middle East, at the Middle East Investor Relations Association “MEIRA” Annual Conference and Awards held on the 24th October 2022 in Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Furthermore, stc was ranked the 1st as the Best Investor Relations Professional in Kuwait in addition to its rank as the 1st Best Digital Annual Report and amongst the top 10 Best Printed Annual Reports for mid-cap companies in the middle east.
The Middle East Investor Relations Annual Conference and Awards (MEIRA Awards) is considered the biggest event covering the Investor Relations’ best practices in the MENA region. The conference also weighs up the importance of incorporating transparency and corporate governance practices in the Investor Relations functions of listed companies.
Despite MEIRA’s success in utilizing the digital platforms as a major communication channel to conduct the annual conference and keep the bridge between the IR professionals around the world, this year, MEIRA was keen on holding the conference physically and for the first time in Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia. This emphasizes MEIRA’s desire to ensure the communication between the IR professionals of leading corporates and the investment community in addition to encouraging the presence and expansion of the IR activities and best practices in the GCC region. The event was held in the presence of the largest listed shareholding companies on the stock exchanges in the GCC and the Middle East Region from all sectors including banks, oil companies, telecom operators, real estate and others. Whereby, Mr. Mohammad bin Mubarak Al-Faran, Chief Financial Officer, and Mr. Wassim El Hayek, Investor Relations and M&A General Manager represented Kuwait Telecommunications Company (stc) and received the three awards for being ranked 1st as the Best Leading Corporate for Investor Relations in Kuwait, the Best Investor Relations Professional in Kuwait for the year 2022 which was awarded to Mr. Wassim Mohammad El Hayek – General Manager Investor Relations and M&A, in addition to being ranked as the Best Digital Annual Report for mid-cap companies in the Middle East.
The 2022 MEIRA Annual Conference & Awards honors and awards each of the leading companies, investor relations professionals, CEOs and CFOs who demonstrate dedication to apply the highest professional standards in investor relations. The whole process of classifying these categories is based on the Institutional Investor’s Emerging EMEA Executive Team Survey considering the financial analysts, portfolio managers and the global investment funds managers. The voting survey included a number of major attributes, which contribute to showcasing the strength of the trust between members of the executive management teams of companies and their investors. Those attributes included, but are not limited to, leadership, credibility and communication, in addition to other well-known leadership traits. The classification of the IR functions, on the other hand, was based on several areas, the most important of which are the quality of earnings call, knowledge, responsiveness and credibility in communication in addition to timing to market, consistent and granular financial information.
Moreover, stc is also pleased to announce its rank amongst the top 3 for the Best EMEA Companies in Investor Relations – TMT sector award, during the 2022 European & Emerging EMEA Equities Awards Ceremony and Dinner that took place in London, United Kingdom on the 7th of September 2022. This award category is based on the Institutional Investor’s Annual Development Europe and Emerging EMEA Research and Executive Team Surveys and takes the results in all the sub-categories, Executive Team and IR Program metrics into account. The award which is also based on the rating of over 17 IR performance metrics done by leading global buy and sell-side professionals, is recognized as the industry benchmark of qualitative market intelligence for Corporates and Investment Professionals for over 40 years.
On this occasion, Mr. Mohammad Bin Mubarak Al Faran, stc’s Chief Financial Officer, stated, “Driven by the IR best practices’ and professional standards’ importance in enhancing companies’ daily activities and communicating effectively with their stakeholders, stc has been always keen on applying these practices and standards across all company functions in order to support its employees in achieving the optimal operational efficiency. This comes from stc’s aspiration to maintain its position as a leader in the telecom industry and one of the pioneers in providing the digital transformation services in the Middle East. stc also instils the adoption of the corporate governance principles across all company activities as a means to achieve its 2022 corporate strategy that has been revised to reflect the latest developments in the ICT and Telecommunications market, and which focuses on building strategic partnerships in the industry. Driven by its commitment to abide by the international IR best practices and corporate governance principles across all company activities, stc ensures maintaining the highest level of transparency with its current and potential investors.
These developments aided stc in being recognized for its exceptional performance in the IR activities in 2022 and paved the road to the Company’s strong image and solid reputation in fulfilling the needs of the investment community. These recognitions demonstrate the great efforts of stc’s Investor Relations team in fulfilling the needs of the investment community in an efficient, transparent and timely manner.”
Al Faran added, “It is worth mentioning that positioning stc’s Digital Annual Report in the 1st place and its Printed Annual Report amongst the top 10 Best Annual Reports amongst the leading corporates of the MENA region reflects the sincerity, dedication and creativity of stc’s skilled employees across all the Company’s sectors, as well as their diligence and hard work in supporting the Investor Relations team to complete their operations and provide the necessary services to the investment community. Accordingly, stc was able to maintain transparency and adhere to the corporate governance rules and regulations imposed by local regulators.”
He continued, “stc has shaped its culture to promote integrity in addition to applying a robust framework applicable across all levels, reinforcing its foundation for sustainable success. Our achievements are a testament to our progressively evolving corporate governance framework that enables stc to demonstrate its level of innovation, efficiency, and ability to adopt best practices while protecting the interests of all stakeholders.
Driven by the positive footprint of stc in the investment community throughout the previous years, stc is delighted to shed the light on its ability in maintaining an effective communications with its current and potential investors throughout the economic challenges and potential risks. stc is committed to use the digital platforms and various communication channels to serve the investment community and company shareholders since the COVID-19 crisis and up until this moment. In this regard, stc’s digital transformation corporate strategy played a significant role in the company’s success, in addition to its focus on providing the necessary ICT and technical solutions to individuals and enterprises. stc is now considered to be one of the leading regional companies in investor relations activities, positively reflecting the role played by the executive management and Investor Relations Department in meeting and exceeding the expectations of shareholders and stakeholders.
Al Faran concluded, “We find it critical to maintain open and clear communication channels that accurately portray the stc’s market position, competitive advantages, and corporate strategy, while diligently reporting our financial and operational performance to the investment community. As a result, our prudent management has enabled us to maintain effective communication and transparency with relevant stakeholders throughout the year and we have succeeded in earning their trust and support.”
Source: Press Release