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Saudi Telecom Company’s (STC) net income for the 1st quarter of 2017 has increased 5.4 percent compared to the comparable quarter last year, and increased 21.3 percent compared to the immediate prior quarter.
This was announced in the group’s interim financial results for the period ending on March 31.
Earnings per share for the 1st quarter grew to reach SR1.26 compared to SR1.20 for the comparable quarter last year.
In accordance with the approved dividend policy for three years starting from the 4th quarter of 2015 which was announced on Nov. 11, 2015, and has been ratified during the general assembly meeting on April 4 2016, STC will distribute a total of SR2,000 million in cash dividend for Q1 2017, representing SR1 per share.
Khaled H. Biyari, STC Group CEO, said: “The financial results achieved for the first quarter of 2017 reflect the efforts being made to constantly evolve, improve and develop the company’s strategy and operations, and achieve the best returns for the shareholders.”
Despite the various difficulties facing the sector, he said, company-sponsored programs contributed to improving operational efficiency and cost control leading to improved income and margins. “Therefore, net income for the first quarter increased 5.4 percent compared to the comparable period last year. Also, net income for the quarter increased 21.3 percent compared to the immediate prior quarter as the company managed to reduce the cost of revenues by 4.3 percent and reduce operating expenses by 13.6 percent compared to the previous quarter.”
Biyari said: “STC continues to invest in digital platforms to provide unique and innovative services to customers, both individuals and businesses. This goes along with the world economy’s direction toward the digital economies and also comes under the Kingdom’s Vision 2030 and the National Transformation Plan 2020.”
He added that the company operates through an integrated program of digital transformation for all internal processes, in addition to digitizing various services both in service delivery and after-sales services.
“As an example, the company recently launched ‘JAWWY’ as an innovative mobile service that provides integrated digital platform for STC customers. In this context, the company also had several meetings with different sectors in the Kingdom to achieve homogeneity of employing modern technology with these sectors both in terms of health, education, financial transactions and other sectors,” Biyari said.