Batelco Group AGM okays BD41.58m cash dividend

Manama: Batelco Group yesterday held its 36th Annual General Meeting (AGM) for the twelve-months ended 31 December 2015  at the company’s headquarters in Hamala.

During the meeting, shareholders approved the recommendation of board of directors for a full year cash dividend of BD41.58  million (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 9m 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. 

“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.