Jericho-26-3-2007- Paltel’s General Assembly has Approved, yesterday, the recommendation of the Board of Directors to dispose cash profits among the share holders by 20% of the capital, 20 piaster for each processed share during a normal meeting held in Jericho.
The General Assembly approval was through voting, putting an end to a sharp discussion in the last part of the meeting, which was determined to discuss the profit disposition technique.
A number of shareholders have presented recommendations ranged between 25% and 50%, as cash distribution and share grants, but Board of Directors Deputy Chairman, the Group’s Executive Chairman, Abed Al-Malek Al-Jaber, who headed the meeting on behalf of the chairman of the Board of Directors, Sabih Al-Masri, was hardly able to convince a sufficient majority of shareholders to vote for approving the Board of Directors’ recommendation.
Al-Jaber justified the insistence of the Board of Directors on its recommendation for the need to keep sufficient portion of the profits to finance the Group’s investments in 2007.
Al-Jaber said: “we have planned investments to widen Jawwal’s network by 30 million dollars, and about 20 million of planned investments in the fixed telecommunications, so we need to keep part of profits to finance these activities”.
Al-Jaber also assured: the Board of Directors’ recommendation “came after adequate analysis to company’s financing needs”.
Al-Jaber promised to increase the dispositions from the current year profits “that we expect to be much higher than the last year”.
According to the audited financial data, the company achieved net profits by 56.1 million Jordanian Dinars compared to 70 million Dinars in 2005.
Al-Jaber mentioned: circular profits remain as shareholders'' Equity, they will be added to the possession rights “and nothing prevents its disposition in the future”.
However, in regard to disposing grant shares, Al-Jaber said: the normal general assembly is not authorized to make a decision in this regard because free share disposition, automatically, means raising the capital “and this requires up normal general assembly”.
Furthermore, “Paltel’s” General Assembly approved the last year company’s general budget, which took big part of the discussion, shareholders questions and explanations of Board of Directors.
Investment portfolio
Many shareholders asked about the reason of the Group’s profit retreat last year, which Al-Jaber, particularly, referred to the losses of the company investment portfolio by about 10.4 million Dinars compared to about 15 million Dinars in 2005.
Al-Jaber clarified: excluding the losses of the investment portfolio, the operating income was 66 million Dinars last year while the Group operating income has reached 55 million Dinars only after excluding the profits of the investment portfolio.
He added: “it is clear that the Group achieved enormous growth in its operating incomes, although the net profit was less than the 2005 profits”.
In response to the shareholders questions regarding the content of the Group investment portfolio, Al-Jaber assured: 80% of it distributed between Palestine Group for Development and Investment “PADICO” and the Arab Bank, in addition to some investments in “ORASCOM” Egyptian Company and the two Jordanian banks, The Housing Bank and Cairo-Amman Bank.
Al-Jaber denied what was said in the General Assembly meeting that most of the portfolio losses last year resulted from the Group investment loss in one of the Emirates public shareholding companies, assuring that the Group doesn’t have any investments in public shareholding companies in Emirates.
Loans
Shareholders asked about the reasons of the company’s debts by about 31.6 million Dinars, and the source of these loans.
Al-Jaber reduced the importance of these loans saying “there is no company in the world practicing economic activity and expanding its activities without receiving loans”, assuring that the company received all the loans from banks working in the Palestine, especially the Arab Bank, “and it doesn’t have any loans from foreign banks except the rest of a five-yea old loan”.
Al-Jaber considered the Group as one of the least borrowing communication companies in the region, since its debt doesn’t exceed 35% of the shareholders net Equity, while the Kuwaiti (MTC) loans, for example, reach 116%”.
Salaries
Salaries level, which was considered high, in Paltel Group, especially for the senior staff, and the basic responsibility of this item compared to the increased expenditure item, occupied big share of the shareholders’ questions.
The total salaries and wages reached about 34.6 million Dinars last year, compared to 27.6 Dinars in 2005.
However, Al-Jaber assured: what the Group pays is “what the market demands in the light of strong competition in the region”.
He justified the increased salaries and wages item by the increase in the number of employees to face the high increase in the number of customers and the users of the Group’s networks.
Furthermore, Al-Jaber indicated: the last year witnessed the real establishment of the companies: HADARA, Pal Media and HULUL, which contributed to the increase in the salaries and wages item, in addition to the Group’s care towards its staff and technicians against the attraction of the huge telecommunication companies in the region, especially that the Palestinian market is waiting to receive another mobile communication network.
Financial Data
The Audited Balance Sheet revealed that the Group’s total assets were increased to 377.3 million Dinars by the end of the last year, from 287 million Dinars by the end of 2005, and the total shareholders Equity was increased to 238.2 million Dinars, from about 202.3 million Dinars by the end of 2005.
In the Income Statement, the audited balance sheet revealed that the Group increased its operating income to about 185 million Dinars last year from 152.6 million Dinars in 2005.
Al-Mansi: we will Resume the Achievements of Former Governments
“Paltel’s” General Assembly normal meeting was held in Gaza and Jericho by the video conference system, and attended by the Minister of Telecommunications and Information Technology, Yousef Al-Mansi, the chairman of Capital Market administrative body, Maher Al-Masri, its General Manager, Atef Alawneh and the Chairman of Board of Directors, the Executive Chairman of Palestinian Securities Exchange.
Al-Mansi has undertaken, through a speech delivered in
Al-Mansi has also said: “we will pay every possible effort to develop the telecommunication sector and to protect the current investments and to attract new investments, since it is a strategic promising sector in our national economy, which is confirmed through the numbers included in the Paltel Group annual report as real growth trends and the hidden strength in this sector, and its distinctive features despite all the tyrannical procedures, siege and harassment we face”.
Al-Mansi assured the insistence of the Ministry to work in accordance with the highest degrees of transparency, justice and control and organizational systems in order to protect the working companies in this sector, and to set the bases for integral relations based on mutual respect to guarantee providing high quality competitive services with competitive prices for the local user in a joint work atmosphere for the interest of Palestine and its citizens.
The Minister of Telecommunication also stressed on the importance of providing appropriate encouraging environment to the existing companies and attracting the new investments.
He praised Paltel Group’s performance level saying “ the pioneering Palestinian institutions, Paltel Group on the top, are institutions we appreciate and maintain their substantial role, we are proud of them and the big accomplishments they achieved, their effective contribution as a strong tributary of telecommunication and information technology sector tributaries despite all constrains and violations facing this sector whether by the Israeli companies, unlicensed operators or other problems we are aware of”.
Al-Mansi asked for all parties’ efforts unity to find the appropriate solutions for these problems and to have a Palestinian stable telecommunication sector that works according to the best systems, organizational and control techniques and universal practices”.
