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Manama, Bahrain: Batelco Group (Ticker: BATELCO), the international Telecommunications Group with operations across 14 countries, today held its Annual General Meeting (AGM) for the twelve-months ended 31 December 2015 ("the year"). The meeting, held at Batelco's Hamala headquarters, was attended by Shareholders, Company Directors and executive management.
The Group's 36th AGM saw shareholders approve the recommendation of the Board of Directors for a full year cash dividend of BD41.58 (US$110.29M), at a value of 25 fils per share, of which 10 fils per share was already paid during the third quarter of 2015 with the remaining 15 fils to be paid in the coming weeks.
Speaking on the occasion, Batelco Chairman Shaikh Hamad Bin Abdulla Al Khalifa said: "We are pleased to continue to build and return value to our shareholders as demonstrated by the dividend payment, in spite of facing demanding market conditions across a number of our operations."
"During 2015 the Group remained resilient and ended the year with net profits of BD49.5M (US$131.3M) in line with 2014 net profits. At the end of the year, the total subscriber base stood at 9 million across the 14 geographies of the Group."
"Going forward, we are optimistic that our cost containment activities, investment in new and enhanced networks and also our digitisation plans, will boost subscriber numbers and consequently the bottom line," Shaikh Hamad added.
Shaikh Hamad extended thanks to the shareholders for their attendance saying that their ongoing support for Batelco's strategies was much appreciated. The Chairman also extended his sincere thanks to his colleagues on the Board of Directors for their unwavering support and to the management teams and employees across the Group for their dedication and efforts.
"For the year ahead, our goal is to play a pivotal role in enabling the integration of the latest technologies in all Batelco Group's operations to deliver the products, services and solutions relevant for each geography that we operate in. With our strategy we are fit to respond to new trends and technologies with emphasis on the field of digitisation," he said.
"We remain focussed on our customers at home and overseas to ensure our provisioning exceeds their expectations. Furthermore, we also remain focussed on strengthening our performance to better serve all Batelco Group stakeholders," Shaikh Hamad concluded.
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About Batelco
Batelco Group is headquartered in the Kingdom of Bahrain and listed on the Bahrain Bourse. Batelco has played a pivotal role in the country's development as a major communications hub and today is the leading integrated communications' provider, continuing to lead and shape the local consumer market and the enterprise ICT market. Batelco has been growing overseas via investing in other market-leading fixed and wireless operators.
Batelco Group has evolved from being a regional Middle Eastern operation to become a major communications company with direct and indirect investments across 14 geographies, namely Bahrain, Jordan, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Egypt, Guernsey, Jersey, Isle of Man, Maldives, Diego Garcia, St. Helena, Ascension Island and the Falkland Islands.
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