Ooredoo Maldives’ AGM approves MVR 2.70 per share as dividend

Ooredoo Maldives, during its Annual General Meeting on Monday, voted to distribute MVR 2.70 per share as dividend for the year 2021.

The MVR 2.70 dividend proposed by Ooredoo Maldives’ Board passed with the vote of 98.7 percent of shareholders who attended the AGM.

10 shareholders attended the AGM held at the Crossroads Maldives’s Event Hall in-person, while 1,101 attended by proxy. They represented shares worth MVR 135.9 million.

Fareeha Shareef was re-elected as the Board Director by the general shareholders with 732 votes. Her closest rival, Ibrahim Firshan received 461 votes. The third candidate who ran for the position, Aishath Hussain Manik received eight votes.

Ooredoo Maldives’ CEO and Managing Director Khalid Al-Hamadi said during the AGM that the company had seen significant growth and improvement in 2021 in key areas, especially in digital adoption and revenue recovery from COVID-19 impact.

Pointing out that the Maldivian government has stated it had no intention of blocking Starlink internet service to Maldives, a shareholder asked whether Ooredoo Maldives expected a change in revenue if Starlink commenced internet services in Maldives next year as proposed.

Al-Hamadi said that the company had conducted analysis and conducted discussions with relevant authorities regarding the subject, and did not expect a major hit to the company’s revenue.

“From day one this has been a hard subject and we have been with the regulatory and the concerned people from the government to share our point of view as a telecom company. And so far, we don’t see it’s going to affect our revenue and we will keep monitoring this issue,” he said.

Al-Hamadi also announced that construction of Ooredoo Maldives’ new head office was expected to be complete in Q4 2022, and open in Q1 2023.

Meanwhile, PricewaterhouseCoopers was approved as Ooredoo Maldives’ auditor for a fee of USD 62,920.

Ooredoo Maldives generated a revenue of MVR 178.7 million in 2021, marking a four percent increase compared to 2020.