Bader Nasser Al-Kharafi

KUWAIT: Chairman of Gulf Cable & Electrical Industries Co Bader Nasser Al-Kharafi said the company was able to face the coronavirus pandemic ably and efficiently to meet the demands of the local market in both the public and private sectors. He said Gulf Cable was able to achieve a host of operational achievements that proves its stability and flexible strategy, pointing to the company's continued expansion and diversified investments that reflect its prestigious history.

Al-Kharafi said the company's investment map and its promising assets locally and abroad guarantees it competitiveness at the highest level and makes it always ready to aim for more success. Gulf Cable, with its extensive technical and administrative expertise, maintains its usual leadership, he said. Al-Kharafi said an investment team looks for expansion that goes along with the company's strategy, adding the shareholders are more deserving of liquidity through worthy distributions unless there is a need for it.

Al-Kharafi was speaking on the sidelines of the company's 44th ordinary general assembly yesterday. He said the company's policy in dealing with the coronavirus pandemic had a positive effect on profitability, which is reflected on its financial results for 2020.

Company capabilities

Al-Kharafi said the company's capabilities and manpower retention had deep implications that confirm the solid status of the company and its ability to deal with crises. He said the company carried out an evaluation on the effect of coronavirus on its basic operational activities and does not expect any effect on its continuity, although it is not possible to measure the future behavior of the coronavirus accurately at this stage. He said the administration believes work will not be adversely affected.

Cash dividends

Al-Kharafi said the general assembly approved the board of directors' recommendation to distribute cash dividends to shareholders at 50 percent of the face value of a share, which is 50 fils per share, for the fiscal year that ended Dec 31, 2020 compared to distributions last year of 40 percent. He said net shareholders' dues for the year ending Dec 31, 2020 is nearly KD 185.86 million compared to KD 174.68 million in 2019, which is an increase of KD 11.18 million or 6.4 percent.

Net profits

Al-Kharafi said net profit for 2020 was nearly KD 5.57 million compared to KD 4.23 million for 2019, which is a 31.61 percent rise after deducting around KD 0.88 million for the group's contribution to Kuwait Foundation for the Advancement of Sciences, national labor support tax, zakat and rewards for board members of KD 0.55 million in 2019.

Al-Kharafi said the company overcame all difficulties that it faced during the coronavirus crisis and continued with its balanced strategy. He said despite the repercussions of the crisis that dominated 2020 and 2019, total production of copper and aluminum cables reached 54.784 tons, an increase of 26.5 percent from 2019 (43.302 tons), while production of aluminum cables almost doubled due to an increase in demand for its low cost compared to copper cables.

Sales

Al-Kharafi said total sales of the group during 2020 reached KD 76.148 million compared to KD 67.717 million in 2019, an increase of 12.5 percent despite Jordan sales being adversely affected due to the situation in Jordan's neighboring countries, the pandemic and a total shutdown. He said the company was able to compensate for the drop in Jordan sales by increasing Kuwait sales by 23 percent.

Investment revenues

Al-Kharafi said investment revenues were around KD 3.11 million compared to KD 4.41 million in 2019. He said the drop in revenues was mainly caused by a drop in dividend revenues by around KD 1.24 million.