Batelco AGM okays BD45.7 m cash dividend

Batelco Group (BATELCO) shareholders yesterday approved a recommendation to distribute a full year cash dividend of BD45.7 million (US$121.2m), at a value of 27.5 fils per share. A statement released said that 10 fils per share of the approved dividend has already been paid during the third quarter of 2018 with the remaining 17.5 fils to be paid in the coming weeks. The approval was given during Batelco’s Annual General Meeting (AGM) held at its Hamala headquarters.

Speaking on the occasion, Batelco Chairman Shaikh Abdulla bin Khalifa Al Khalifa said: “We are delighted to announce 7 per cent year over year growth to reach our highest revenues since Batelco’s inception of BD405.9m (US$1,076.7) with the revenues positively bolstered by continued strong performance at Batelco Bahrain. EBITDA for 2018 increased by 15pc over 2017 to reach BD142.8m (US$378.8m) with EDITDA margin of 35pc.”

Batelco Group CEO Ihab Hinnawi said that 2018 was a turnaround year for the Batelco Group supported by the ongoing rollout of the Group’s transformation strategy and key investments in targeted services, leading to a significant increase in shareholder return. “We are very pleased to note that diversifying our revenues has paid back, with particular positive impact achieved by the acceleration of fibre implementation and data penetration.

Our efforts resulted in significant improvement for Fixed Broadband, Datacom services and for digital services in our markets of operation.”