Aamal absorbs blockade challenge: Sheikh Faisal

DOHA: Sheikh Faisal bin Qassim Al Thani, Chairman of Aamal Company, stated yesterday the conglomerate had witnessed a number of progressive developments and achievements last year, despite a prolonging blockade imposed on Qatar by a few neighbouring countries. The group’s 2017 achievements positively affected the financial, operational and internal controls of the company, Sheikh Faisal said while addressing the annual ordinary and extraordinary he said Without the Government’s efforts to overcome and manage the challenges Aamal would not have been able to achieve its 2017 solid results. The government was also committed to provide inordinate support to the private sector, he said.

The General Assembly approved all amendments to the Articles of Association of the Company in accordance with the requirements of the Corporate Governance Code for listed companies and legal entities issued by Qatar Financial Markets Authority’s Board directive no. (5) for the year 2016. The general assembly also authorised the Chairman of the Board to sign the new Articles of Association for the purposes of authenticating the new Articles of Association by the relevant authorities, and authorized the Chairman to delegate to the Company’s staff undertaking the necessary steps to complete the authentication and registration of the new Articles of Association with the relevant authorities.

Addressing the assembly, Aamal Vice Chairman, Sheikh Mohamed bin Faisal Al Thani said while the ongoing blockade has undoubtedly created some challenging headwinds, Aamal is very proud to say that Qatar as a nation is successfully navigating through them. “I believe this is testimony not only to the resilience of the Qatari economy but also to the strong and clear leadership that our national government provides as we strive to achieve the holistic goals set out in the Qatar National Vision 2030, including diversification of the economy. I must also mention the resourcefulness of the Qatari people in meeting these challenges head on, as they did in previously demanding times including the global slump post-2007 and the oil price lows of early 2016.”

Aamal has always been noted for its strategic decision making capabilities, and no better is this demonstrated than by how rapidly it moved to help establish alternative supply chains in the face of the continuing blockade on Qatar.
This resilience is also borne out by the diversity of our business model, so that if one sector is experiencing a tightening in general business conditions for example, there will be others that are able to more than compensate, Sheikh Mohamed said.

Allied to this is Aamal’s strong financial position and cash generation which means that should we identify a potential value-creating opportunity, we are able to act quickly, often giving us a competitive advantage over our peers.

“An excellent example of this is the decision we announced in early January to proceed with three major new industrial projects which will be the first of their kind in Qatar, having applied for the necessary approvals in 2017. Not surprisingly, we are also the partner of choice for those international blue-chip names looking to enter the Qatari market for the first time”, he said.

The General Assembly approved the proposal of the Board of Directors to distribute dividends at the rate of 6 percent of the nominal value of each share of the Company.