The 42nd Annual General Meeting (AGM) of Batelco, Bahrain’s leading telecom provider, approved the recommendation of the Board of Directors for a full year cash dividend of BD49.8 million ($132.1 million).
The dividend is at a value of 30 fils per share, of which 13.5 fils per share was already paid during the third quarter of 2021 with the remaining 16.5 fils announced during the meeting to be paid in the coming weeks.
The interactive virtual AGM (for the 12-month period ended on December 31, 2021) was streamed live from Batelco’s Hamala Headquarters with Batelco Chairman, CEO and Batelco CFO in attendance, to present the financial and operational achievements to shareholders and respond to questions.
Jaafar Al Qubaiti, Partner at KPMG, attended the meeting as Batelco’s external auditor, while representatives from Bahrain Bourse and shareholders joined the meeting virtually.
Batelco Chairman Shaikh Abdulla bin Khalifa Al Khalifa said: “The Board was very pleased to announce solid financial results for 2021 and delighted to see a 16% increase in net profits over 2020, the highest increase in the past 10 years. Revenues, EBITDA and Operating Profits increased by 3%, 10% and 5% respectively, with the full set of results reflecting the efforts of Batelco’s teams to successfully implement the company’s strategy which sharply focussed on digital growth and elevating core services.
“Meeting our shareholders’ expectations is a priority for Batelco’s Board and achieving strong results has allowed us to maintain good dividend payouts for our shareholders of 30 fils per share, which is in line with 2020. We are grateful for our shareholders’ trust and value their feedback; going forward we will continue to be committed to delivering excellent return on their investment.”
The Chairman extended his personal thanks to the board members for their support during 2021 and also offered appreciation to the executive management team and Batelco’s team members for their dedication which contributed to the strong performance.
Batelco CEO Mikkel Vinter presented an overview of Batelco’s performance in 2021 which highlighted the strong financial performance and key milestones achieved by Batelco Bahrain and the company’s overseas operations.
“Batelco Bahrain and its international operations all play a crucial role in the Company’s success and our consolidated revenues and net profits reflect the combined efforts and commitment.
“We maintained our focus on developing digital services and as a result of extensive planning and investment are now seeing the fruit of our efforts following the launch of Beyon Money, the first financial Super App in Bahrain. To continue the momentum with digital growth plans, we recently announced the launch of three more new digital brands; Beyon Cyber, Beyon Solutions, and Beyon Connect and we are very excited to develop these over the year ahead,” Vinter added.
“Among other key achievements during 2021, we are proud that Batelco was recognised for the second consecutive year as a great place to work, which reflects our focus on transforming corporate culture and developing and training team members. Additionally, in line with our efforts to advance our sustainability plans, we were delighted to open Batelco Solar Park which is already powering one of Batelco’s Data Centres,” he said.
“All Batelco team members played a role in the successful year of 2021 and their efforts are greatly appreciated. We have a strong platform to build on and look forward to delivering even more successes during 2022,” Vinter concluded.
