ShareTotal revenues for 2018 reached KD 278 million
KUWAIT: VIVA holds its Annual General Meeting (AGM) at the Regency Hotel yesterdayKUWAIT: VIVA held its Annual General Meeting (AGM) at the Regency Hotel yesterday and the attendance represented 78.173 percent from the total shareholders.
The AGM approved the board of directors' report, the auditors' report and the sharia committee's report for the fiscal year ended 31 December 2017. In addition, the AGM approved financial statements and board of directors' recommendation to distribute cash dividends of 30 fils among the shareholders representing 30 percent of the capital for the fiscal year ended 31 December 2017 for the shareholders registered in the company's records on the date of the AGM.
The AGM approved the corporate governance report and the report of the Audit Committee provided by the board of directors, the report of remuneration and benefits for the board of directors and executive management for the year ending on 31 December 2017.
The following members of the Board were nominated and elected by acclamation for three years:
* Saudi Telecom Company (STC) (Non - independent Member)
* Gulf STC Holding (Non - independent Member)
* Gulf STC Holding 1 (Non - independent Member)
* Gulf STC Holding 3 (Non - independent Member)
* Kuwait Investment Authority
* Public Institution for Public Security (Non - independent Member)
* Salah Ahmad Meshari Al-Fouzan - (Independent Member)
The Chairman of VIVA, Dr Mahmoud Ahmed Abdulrahman, commented that "Despite the high competition witnessed in the Kuwaiti Telecom Market, VIVA was able to achieve a growth in the profitability and sustain the operational efficiency to ensure generating positive return to our shareholders. VIVA achieved these results due to an integrated management approach by a highly professional team that reinforces VIVA's substantial and positive role as a leading telecommunications company that always provides intelligent communications solutions to satisfy the needs of its customers and meet their needs."
He added that "VIVA has demonstrated its ability to achieve a growth in the net profit amidst the current hard economic conditions and strong competition witnessed in the year 2017 which resulted from the decline in telecom tariffs thus pressurizing the profit margin of all telecom companies in Kuwait. VIVA managed to achieve net profit of KD 40.1 million (earnings per share of 80 fils) during the FY 2017 growing at 1 percent compared to net profit of KD 39.8 million (earnings per share of 80 fils) during FY 2016.
On his part, Eng. Salman bin Abdulaziz Al-Badran, VIVA's CEO said that "Results of 2017 came in line with VIVA goals and ongoing ambitions to achieve an increase in its operational businesses and strengthen its leadership in the telecom market". Al-Badran added that "We have exerted great efforts in 2017 through our integrated team work to establish a solid and strong base that insures the company's continuing successes in light of the strong competition in the Kuwaiti telecom market. VIVA achieved good levels of revenues and record a growth in the profitability in addition to improving the company's financial and operational efficiency. As a result, VIVA recorded revenues of KD 278 million during FY 2017 and achieved net profit of KD 40.1 million (earnings per share of 80 fils) in 2017, whereas the operating profit has reached KD 42.6 million during the same year. On the other hand, VIVA customer base has reached 2.3 million at the end of December 2017.
On his part, Mohammed Bin AbdulMohsen Al-Assaf, VIVA's CFO, said that "During 2017, VIVA's financial results reflected its ability to compete and achieve growth in revenues during Q4-2017, and maintain its position as the second largest telecom operator in the Kuwaiti market in term of revenues in the telecom sector. On the other hand, VIVA managed to sustain healthy profitability ratios in light of intense competition where Return On Assets (ROA) has reached 14 percent while return on shareholders' equity (ROE) has reached 24 percent in 2017. "We will continue our hard work in implementing our strategy to maintain our competitive edge and achieve further growth and success in the Kuwaiti telecom market through offering innovative products and services in line with the latest technology to meet our customers' needs" he added.
