Zain Group Chief Executive Officer Nabeel Bin Salamah said the outlook for the current fiscal year 2010 is positive. “The best is yet to come for the Zain Group, especially in light of our strong financial position, which will help us make operational decisions in order to attain excellent future returns.” He said the Group's overall strategy was to increase value to shareholders and that this was already borne out by the recent definitive agreement to sell Zain's African assets. “We will seek to seize any attractive investment opportunity, as well as focus on the markets in the Gulf and Middle East, which currently account for the largest proportion of revenue and profitability,” he added. Zain Group, the leading mobile telecommunication operator in the Middle East and Africa, and with commercial presence in 23 countries, recorded healthy consolidated revenues of KWD 2.318 billion ($8.056 billion), an increase of 15.7 percent compared to the 12 months of 2008. The company's consolidated EBITDA increased by 24 percent for the same period to reach KWD 926 million ($3.215 billion) with EBIT rising 33 percent to reach KWD 505 million ($1.752 billion). Consolidated Net Income reached KWD 195 million ($675 million), a decrease of 39 percent. The earnings per share for the 12-month period stood at KWD 0.051 ($0.18). Year-on-year customer growth on the two continents across which Zain operates was 14 percent, whereby the company is serving 72.5 million managed active customers as of Dec. 31, 2009. Zain Group added over 9 million new active customers over the past twelve months. Chairman of the Board of Directors of Zain Group Asaad Al Banwan said “the 15.7 percent increase in consolidated revenues, 24 percent EBITDA and 33 percent EBIT increases reflect the efficient operational performance of the Group's mobile operations, despite the global financial crisis. The 2009 fiscal year was the toughest in the company's history with the biggest challenge coming from the sharp volatility in several currencies, which effectively cost the Group KWD 38 million ($133 million).” He also said the company's sound financial and profitable position would see an exceptional distribution of a cash dividend of 170 fils for the fiscal year ending Dec. 31, 2009, subject to approval at the AGM. “The strength and durability of the financial position of the Group ensures the realization of such distributions, while the profits from the sale of Zain Africa will be used in support of dividends for the coming financial years, which are expected to not be less than the cash distributions for the current year,” he said.
