The company, an affiliate of London-listed Vodafone, now posts a positive quarterly earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBIDTA), but investors appear to remain unimpressed, with the shares down by a quarter from the company’s 2009 initial public offering.
Vodafone Qatar has yet to make a quarterly net profit since ending Qatar Telecom’s (Qtel) domestic monopoly in 2009.
“We think the share price will move forward,” CEO Richard Daly said.
“The dividend issuance should help with that.”
At the same event, Chief Financial Officer John Tombleson also reiterated Vodafone Qatar planned to pay a dividend in 2013. He had told analysts in May, when he was acting CEO, that this might be pushed back a year.
Vodafone Qatar made a net loss of 115 million riyals in the second quarter, according to Reuters calculations. This compares with a loss of 164 million riyals in the same period a year ago. The company’s financial year starts on April 1.
Two analysts polled by Reuters forecast the firm would post a quarterly loss of between 105 million and 125 million riyals.
Vodafone Qatar’s quarterly revenue was 300 million riyals, up from 210 million riyals a year earlier, while it claimed a 25 percent revenue share of Qatar’s mobile market.
The firm’s capital expenditure will stabilize at 10 percent of revenue from 2015, Daly said, adding his priorities included introducing post-paid contracts for mobile customers. At present, customers are on pay-as-you-go tariffs.
Daly added the company had no plans to launch 4G or LTE (long-term evolution) high-speed networks, but would start fixed line services in 2012.
Vodafone’s second-quarter EBITDA was 34.3 million riyals.
