(MENAFN- The Peninsula) The Peninsula
DOHA: Vodafone Qatar reported its second consecutive profitable year with net profit of QR144m for 2019, up 22 percent increase compared to the previous year.
The Board of Directors of Vodafone Qatar has recommended distribution of a cash dividend of 5 percent of the nominal share value, or QR0.05 per share (5 dirhams), which will be presented at the Company's next Annual General Assembly for approval.
Total revenue of the Company increased by 1 percent (year-on-year) to reach QR2.125bn driven by higher demand for the Company's postpaid and broadband services. Service revenue grew by 2.4 percent to reach QR1.949bn. Vodafone Qatar is now serving 1.74 million mobile customers with solid growth coming from the Postpaid and Fixed product plans.
EBITDA for the reported period stood at QR709m representing an increase of 21 percent compared to last year, positively impacted by higher service revenue, lower costs and the adoption of International Financial Reporting Standard (IFRS) 16. Consequently, EBITDA Margin improved by 5.6 percentage points to reach 33.4 percent.
Commenting on the results, Vodafone Qatar's Chairman, Abdulla Nasser Al Misnad, said: 'Vodafone Qatar sustained profitable growth for the second year in a row, finishing 2019 with eight consecutive quarters of higher year-on-year revenue. This clearly demonstrates a winning strategy that focuses on strengthening and growing our core business and bringing innovative digital services and solutions to market. Our significant investments in network and technology infrastructure that includes the Company's roll out of its live 5G commercial network which is close to completion in Doha, yielded stellar results, and most importantly, is supporting the realisation of a digital society under the Qatar National Vision 2030.
My sincere appreciation to the government, valued shareholders, customers, as well as to our dedicated employees for their tireless efforts and commitment. I am very confident that we are well positioned to sustain these sound financial results in 2020 and beyond.
Rashid Fahad Al Naimi, Vodafone Qatar Managing Director added: 'These excellent results highlight Vodafone Qatar's success in implementing strategic plans, that are dynamic in meeting with the sweeping changes in the ICT sector. It is our focus on innovation and seeking new revenue streams, upgrading our networks to 5G and driving efficiencies that allows us to consistently deliver strong operational results and enhancing shareholder value.
Sheikh Hamad Abdulla Jassim Al Thani, CEO, Vodafone Qatar, added: 'We take great pride in our role of being at the forefront of the digital era and 2019 was a transformative year in this regard. The foundation of this lies in our world-class infrastructure. In 2019, we significantly expanded our live 5G network to cover key areas across the country, expanded our fixed access network and launched the first dedicated Internet of Things network, NB-IoT.
To emphasize our customer promise of delivering an unmatched experience, we launched our successful GigaHome and GigaBusiness broadband services along with GigaTV-our premium entertainment service, in addition to the country's first 5G plans. These investments in both our underlying infrastructure layer and new products and services, have enabled us to diversify our revenue mix to a much healthier level than where we stood a couple of years ago.
Looking to the future, our ambition stretches well beyond what we have already achieved. It is an ambition deeply rooted in our leadership role in connecting today's ideas with tomorrow's technology.
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