Mohamed Sameh, corporate sector manager at Telecom Egypt (TE), said that the company plans to boost the contribution of data centre services and other value-added services like hosting, cloud computing, and other services to the business sector’s total revenues by up to 25% in the coming five years.
TE revealed several days ago that there is a potential investment opportunity in the marine cable sector, on the back of which the board of directors approved amending the proposed dividend for fiscal year 2017 to secure funding.
In a press statement, the company said that in light of an arising investment opportunity in the submarine cable industry that is expected to maximise the company’s returns from the cable business and ensure the continuation of the current revenue stream, the board of directors determined to reduce the earlier proposed dividend for FY 2017 to EGP 0.25 from EGP 1 per share.
The board’s decision to amend the dividends proposal comes in light of the company’s decision to preserve the revenue stream of the cable systems segment, avail short-term financing to the potential investment opportunity without inflating the company’s debt position, and achieve a short-term return on the potential investment opportunity.
The company intends to maintain its long-standing dividend policy to its shareholders in FY 2018 and beyond. Such dividend policy aims to provide investors with a continuous stream of annual dividends, while balancing dividend distribution and the reinvestment of its cash flows in its capital expenditure, which is viewed as the key driver for inducing future growth.
