JEDDAH – Etihad Etisalat (Mobily), a leading telecom operator in Saudi Arabia, said its board has approved the distribution of dividend worth SR924 million ($246 million) to the shareholders for the third quarter. An affiliate of the UAE telco Etisalat, Mobily had yesterday reported a forecast-beating net profit for the third quarter which rose 11.7 per cent as revenue from corporate and wholesale customers grew. Saudi's No 2 telecom company made a third-quarter net profit of SR1.69 billion, up from SR1.51 billion in the prior-year period. The proposed dividend, which represents 12 percent of the face value, will be distributed on Nov. 12, remarked its chairman Abdulaziz Saleh AlSaghyir. Only those shareholders who have their names in the Securities Depository Center (Tadawul) registry by Nov. 4 will be eligible for the dividends which is equal to SR1.20 per share, he added. — SG
