Kuwait Telecommunications Company (stc) held its Annual General Meeting (AGM) at the Company’s Headquarters on Monday 29 March 2021, where the attendance represented 70.324% from the total shareholders. The virtually conducted meeting used the online platform provided by Kuwait Clearing Company and in accordance with the health precautionary measures and procedures issued by the Government.
The AGM approved the Board of Directors’ and Financial Position’s report, the Auditors’ report and the Sharia Committee’s report for the fiscal year ended on 31 December 2020. The AGM also approved the Audit Committee report and the Corporate Governance report including the Board of Directors’ and the Executive Management’s remuneration and benefits report for the year ended on 31 December 2020 besides approving all the other items in the AGM agenda.
In addition, the AGM approved the Company’s financial statements and the Board of Directors’ recommendation to distribute cash dividends of 60 Kuwaiti fils, representing 60% of the share’s nominal value for the year ended 2020, to all the shareholders registered in the Company’s records, on the Record Date, Wednesday 14 April 2021, where the cash dividends will be distributed for the eligible shareholders on the Payment Date, Wednesday 21 April 2021.
The members of the Board of Directors were also elected for the three-year term, whereby the following members were elected:
- Saudi Telecom Company
- The Public Institution for Social Security
- stc Gulf Holding
- stc Gulf Holding 1
- stc Gulf Holding 3
- Kuwait Investment Authority
- Salah Ahmad Meshari Al-Fouzan (Independent Member)
Speaking at the event, Dr. Mahmoud Ahmad Abdulrahman, stc’s Chairman, said, "stc was able to achieve financial and operational achievements that meet the aspirations of company’s shareholders which were translated through distributing the highest cash dividends of 60 Kuwaiti fils since the company’s inception, despite COVID-19 crisis’s negative impacts on the global financial markets in various industries. Whereby, stc took it upon itself to launch a wide range of products that meet customers’ demands in that period. As a result, stc has strengthened its position in the market as a leader in the digital and latest technological advances arena driven by the growing demand for the digital services in Kuwait and all over the world.
Despite the 2020 crisis, stc managed to achieve a total revenue of KD 283.2 mn, where EBITDA reached KD 73.4 mn with an EBITDA margin of 26%. As a result, stc recorded a net profit of KD 32.1 mn. On the other hand, shareholders’ equity increased by 3.2% at the end of 2020, reaching a book value of 445 fils per share. Furthermore, the Board of Directors has recommended distributing cash dividends of 60 fils per share representing 60% of the share nominal value for the year ended 2020.
stc also launched the new brand name of its subsidiary “QualityNet” to become solutions by stc, the company's arm specializing in providing integrated business solutions.
As a matter of our concern for the social responsibility towards our local community during the Covid19 outbreak, stc has contributed to many initiatives and activities in support of the adopted preventive measures. Consequently, the company has collaborated with various entities to support a number of groups and sectors across Kuwait including, health, sports, education and entrepreneurship. In addition, stc has also worked alongside with some governmental agencies and medical companies to prevent the infectious diseases in addition to undertaking several preventive measures in accordance with the health guidelines and instructions issued by the Ministry of Health.”
Meanwhile, Eng. Maziad Alharbi, stc’s CEO said, “stc’s future plans focus on enriching customer experience, gaining market leadership and being a pioneer through improving company’s capabilities as well as providing an effective model based on the digital platforms in addition to instilling the culture of performance within the company. stc also seeks to enter into strategic partnerships to provide the basic infrastructure necessary to develop stc’s ICT portfolio. Additionally, stc is always keen to provide integrated working teams, innovate in its services and products, and explore more smart investments in order to achieve the best results. In light of market challenges resulting from the highly competitive prices, stc aims to focus on the value and quality of its products and services. Hence, one of stc’s most important future aspirations is to provide its customers, individuals and enterprises, with products and services that are beyond the traditional mobile services. It also strives to attract opportunities related to providing enterprise services and transforming the technical capabilities, in addition to empowering those capabilities renewably, leveraging from stc group’s expertise and capabilities in the digital transformation area. stc also capitalizes on the advanced technical services provided by solutions by stc which operates in Kuwait and is fully owned by stc”.
