Ooredoo AGM approves distribution of QR0.30 per share as dividend

Ooredoo on Tuesday held its annual general meeting, during which shareholders discussed and approved the company’s corporate governance report and financial statements, following confirmation of final year results for 2021.
During the meeting, shareholders approved the recommendation of the Board of Directors to distribute a cash dividend of QR0.30 per
share.
In his address to the meeting, Chairman of Ooredoo Sheikh Faisal bin Thani Al Thani credited the group’s strong performance in 2021 to its prudent strategy and ambitious transformation programme. Sheikh Faisal also cited several strategic milestones in 2021 as contributors to the Group ending the year in a stable financial
position.
“Our solid performance this year confirms our corporate strategy is robust, effective and able to distinguish our performance in competitive markets. We have focused on driving group-wide initiatives to enable us to future-proof our business, introducing attractive new services in the business-to-consumer and business-to-business sectors,” he said.
Revenue increased by 4 percent year-on-year to QR30 billion in 2021, with strong performances in Ooredoo’s home market of Qatar, as well as Indonesia and Tunisia. Excluding FX impact, revenue increased by 7 percent.
Driven by growth in Indonesia, Kuwait and Algeria, Group EBITDA was QR13 billion and the company improved EBITDA margin to a healthy 44 percent from 42 percent.
Our Net Profit increased by 61 percent excluding the FX impact and a one-off negative impairment in Myanmar that was partially offset by a gain from the Indonesian tower sale and leaseback transaction.
Ooredoo Group’s consolidated customer base exceeded 121 million with strong performances in Indonesia, Oman, Algeria and Iraq in particular. Ooredoo Group maintains healthy cash reserves and liquidity levels. Free Cash Flow – the anchor metric for our groupwide transformation programme – increased by 30 percent to reach QR8.2 billion.
Operational highlights included confirmation of the merger of Indosat Ooredoo with CK Hutchison, creating Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison; a stronger number two operator in that important market. By consolidating the two networks, Ooredoo intends to achieve higher revenues and deliver significant operational and financial synergies.
The Group also secured a sale and leaseback of Indosat Ooredoo’s tower assets in 2021 – one of the largest deals of its kind in Asia, with a valuation of $750 million.
Institutional confidence in Ooredoo’s strategy and performance was demonstrated by the success of its USD 1 billion bond issuance in April 2021. This was Ooredoo’s first issuance in five years and the market response was extremely positive.
Further confirmation of confidence in Ooredoo was seen in the strong investment grade ratings the Group maintained with leading ratings agencies on their long-term outlook on Ooredoo: Standard & Poor’s: A-; Moody’s: A2; and Fitch: A-.