Shareholders of National Central Cooling Company (Tabreed), the UAE's biggest publicly traded utilities firm, approved an 8 fils per share cash dividend for 2017.
The payout recommended by the board of Tabreed, which counts Abu Dhabi’s Mubadala Investment Company as its shareholder, is 23 per cent higher than what the company distributed in 2016, it said in a statement to the Dubai Financial Market on Thursday, where its shares are traded.
"Tabreed delivered another year of strong results and net profit growth in 2017, driven by added capacity. This, in turn, enabled us to deliver a 23 per cent increase in cash dividend per share," said Khaled Al Qubaisi, Tabreed's chairman. "In the coming year, we look forward to continue delivering growth and stable returns to our shareholders, as we harness our expertise and capabilities of our major shareholders to meet the region's growing cooling needs."
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The company in January reported a 9 per cent rise in its full-year 2017 net income to Dh400 million, boosted by increased capacity and higher revenues from core chilled water operations.
Tabreed operates 72 cooling plants across the Arabian Gulf. It added 43,900 of refrigerated tonnes of new customer connections in 2017.
The company's portfolio of projects includes developments such as Abu Dhabi’s Yas Island and the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque; the Dubai Metro and Dubai Parks and Resorts, and Jabal Omar development in Makkah.
"As we mark our 20-year milestone this year, we are proud of our track record, which has led us to become the region's leading district cooling company, providing nearly 1.1 million refrigeration tonnes of cooling capacity to our customers," said Jasim Thabet, Tabreed's chief executive officer.
"Our growth underscores our commitment to delivering high quality reliable and efficient solutions, while maintaining a health financial position and enhancing shareholder value with sustained and stable returns."
