Batelco approves $152.8m dividends

Manama, February 22, 2012

Bahrain's leading telecom group Batelco said the company board has approved a full year cash dividend of BD57.6 million ($152.8 million), which represents a 72 per cent payout at a value of 40 fils per share.

Announcing this on Wednesday, Batelco said the Group had already paid 20 fils per share during the third quarter of 2011 with the payment of the remaining 20 fils per share expected on March 6.

The group’s 31st AGM, held at its Hamala headquarters in Bahrain, was presided over by the board chairman Shaikh Hamad bin Abdulla Al Khalifa and Group CEO Shaikh Mohamed bin Isa Al Khalifa.

Speaking at the meeting, Shaikh Hamad said: “2011 marked another year of solid financial and operating performance for Batelco. Throughout the year we successfully executed our strategy and delivered results in line with the guidance and expectations set for our shareholders early in 2011.'

'We are especially pleased, however, that our solid financial performance enabled us once again to deliver a substantial dividend to our shareholders, totalling BD57.6miillion as recommended by the board of directors and approved by our shareholders here today,' he added.

Batelco Group had earlier announced that its full year net profit for 2011 dropped 8 per cent to BD80 milion ($212.2 million) from BD86.8 million the year before.

Commenting on the results, Shaikh Hamad, said: “We were pleased with the strength of our balance sheet at year end. As of December 31, 2011, Batelco was free of debt and had significant cash and bank balances of BD107.9 million, up 24 per cent year on year."

"Our ability to continue to pay substantial dividends and even further grow our cash and bank balances is the result of the effective management of our operations and strong cash flow generation, which in 2011 exceeded the guidance we had provided earlier in the year," he added.-TradeArabia News Service

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