MANAMA: Batelco shareholders have approved a full year cash dividend of BD45.7 million at a value of 27.5 fils per share, of which 10 fils per share was already paid during the third quarter of 2019 with the remaining 17.5 fils announced during the meeting to be paid in the coming weeks.

The announcement follows the annual general meeting held yesterday utilising video conferencing across two locations to limit numbers in any location and encourage social distancing.

The meeting included the appointments of board members for the next three-year term 2020-2023.

Mumtalakat appointed four members, Shaikh Abdulla bin Khalifa Al Khalifa, Raed Fakhri, Abdulla Alhammadi and Fatema Al Arayedh.

Amber Holdings has appointed two members, Shaikh Ali bin Khalifa Al Khalifa and will announce the name of the other representative at a later time.

The Social Insurance Organisation (SIO) has appointed Khalid Taqi and Abdulla Bokhowa.

Jean Christophe Durand and Ahmed Abdulrahman were the two members elected by the shareholders in the AGM.

Batelco chairman Shaikh Abdulla bin Khalifa Al Khalifa said, “We are delighted to announce strong performance for Batelco during the year, which in turn contributed to good dividends for shareholders as part of efforts to continuously deliver improved value for them.

“Revenues for 2019 were BD401.5m and revenues in the home market of Bahrain have increased by 5pc year-on-year boosted by revenues from fixed broadband, data communications and mobile services.

However, EBITDA decreased by 1pc in comparison to 2018, impacted by BD11.1m voluntary employee retirement programme cost. Adjusted EBITDA for the year without the voluntary employee retirement cost is 7pc higher year-on-year, driven by the 5pc reduction in operating expenses.”

Batelco CEO Mikkel Vinter said: “In 2019, we achieved key milestones to support the company’s digital transformation journey, such as the commercial launch of the 5G network for the first time in Bahrain, an important step in enabling the growth of the digital economy. This year, we plan to further increase the areas of 5G coverage.”

“To position Batelco as the leading provider of innovative digital services and connectivity in Bahrain, we have ambitious plans for 2020. We will be investing in adjacent businesses in Bahrain and the MEA region, focusing on specific clusters of FinTech, B2B solutions, e-government and e-commerce. As a result, this will diversify our revenue streams and create investment opportunities in different digital technologies,” he added.

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