Doha: Ooredoo shareholders yesterday approved the recommendation of the Board of Directors to distribute a cash dividend of QR0.25 per share. Ooredoo held its Annual General Meeting online yesterday, where shareholders discussed and approved the Company’s Corporate Governance Report and financial statements, following confirmation of final year results for 2020.
Addressing the meeting, Sheikh Faisal bin Thani Al Thani, Chairman of Ooredoo, highlighted the professionalism and dedication of Ooredoo employees during an unprecedented year: “The COVID-19 pandemic affected every aspect of our working and daily lives. However, I am proud of the hard work of the Ooredoo team that ensured communities stayed connected, engaged and entertained.”
“Ooredoo Group demonstrated the resilience of our operations, delivering a net profit of QR1.1bn, maintaining healthy cash reserves and liquidity levels, and expanding our customer base to 121 million despite the challenging environment,” he added.
As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic impact, revenue declined by 4 percent year-on-year to QR28.9bn in 2020, with a reduction in handset sales and roaming business as well as macroeconomic weakness in some markets. This was partially offset by growth in Indonesia and Palestine.
EBITDA declined by 6 percent year-on-year to QR12.1bn in 2020, impacted by lower revenues and challenging market conditions across most markets. The Company maintained its focus on digitalisation and cost optimisation, reflected in a healthy EBITDA margin of 42 percent for financial year 2020.
Group net profit attributable to Ooredoo shareholders decreased by 35 percent year-on-year to QR1.1bn in 2020 mainly due to lower EBITDA and one-off gains in 2019 from the Indonesian tower sales. Ooredoo Group expanded its customer base by 3 percent to 121 million customers, boosted by additions in Iraq and Indonesia.Highlights of the period include a wide range of initiatives to support communities during the pandemic public health crisis and an exclusive and non-legally binding Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with CK Hutchison Holdings Limited for a potential transaction to combine telecommunications businesses in Indonesia.
One of the items reviewed during the AGM was election of the board members. Sheikh Faisal bin Thani Al Thani, Dr. Nasser Mohammed Marafih, Aziz Aluthman Fakhroo, Essa Hilal Al Kuwari and Yousif Mohammed Al Obaidli were appointed members of Ooredoo Board of Directors.
Also, the following candidates were elected members of the Ooredoo Board of Directors: General Retirement & Social Insurance Authority represented by Turki Mohammed Al Khater; Qatar National Bank (QNB) represented by Abdulla Mwubarak Al Khalifa; Nasser Rashid Al-Humaidi; Wasit Trading represented by Sheikh Saoud bin Nasser Al Thani and Mohammed Nasser Al Hajri.
The meeting discussing and approved the compliance report of the QFMA Corporate Governance & Internal Control over Financials Reporting report for the year ended December 31, 2020.
