(MENAFN- The Peninsula) The Peninsula
DOHA: Mannai Corporation Chairman Hamad bin Abdulla bin Khalifa Al Thani has said that the year 2017 proved to be a bit challenging for its business conditions leading to a slight dip in the company's net profit compared with the previous year, although the Group Net Profit before Tax increased by 3 percent compared to the previous year.
Addressing the company's annual general meeting yesterday, the chairman said the economic climate was particularly tough for Mannai's retail businesses (B2C) due to subdued consumer sentiment in the GCC. 'Our Business to Business (B2B) segment revenues were down slightly year on year, except in our ICT businesses where I am pleased to say that our expanding ICT services delivered a strong and healthy performance, he said.
'To put the 2017 performance in a broader context the Compound Annual Growth Rate of Mannai's net Profits since listing in 2007, including 2017, has been an average of 18 percent per annum, which has enabled the
Board to declare dividends to its shareholders amounting to QR 1.90bn over that period, he added.
The foundation for the company's long term growth record stems from the remarkable development of the economy in Qatar over that time, thanks to the inspired leadership in Qatar, and the sound and stable business environment that has been established, which continues today, even in the face of recent challenges.
Taking a medium term view the Board has recommended maintaining the dividend at 40 percent in respect of 2017, being QR 4 per share, the same level as the previous year, the Chairman said. In July 2017 Mannai increased its shareholding in GFIInformatique from 51 percent to 81 percent, and it is now consolidated in Mannai Corporation's 2017 balance sheet. This consolidation is also reflected in Group revenue increasing from QR4.9bn to QR7.04bn in 2017.
GFI Informatique is a Public Company listed in France, operating mainly in Europe and North Africa. The combined revenues of our ICT businesses, Mannai in Qatar and GFI in Europe delivered significant growth.In terms of scale, Mannai has 1140 employees in ICT in Qatar and India, and GFI has 14,800ICT employees throughout its international network, giving the Mannai Group a powerful and growing presence in the ICT sector both regionally and internationally.
The Board considers technology and innovation has high growth potential. Accordingly we propose to continue to develop our ICT business as opportunities arise.
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