Al Yah Satellite Communications, better known as Yahsat, recorded a 6 per cent year-on-year increase in revenue in 2022, buoyed by its managed solutions business, according to its preliminary results.
The company's revenue grew to Dh1.6 billion ($433 million) last year, up from Dh1.5 billion in 2021, Yahsat said on Friday in a bourse filing to the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange, where its shares are traded.
This growth was “driven by strong performance in the managed solutions operating segment”, the company said.
The results are in line with company expectations of revenue growth between 3 and 8 per cent for the full year, as outlined by its chief financial officer Andrew Cole to The National in an interview in November.
Its managed solutions business involves providing satellite communication services to the UAE government. About 85 per cent of the company’s revenue comes from the UAE market.
Founded in 2007, Yahsat offers multi-mission satellite services in more than 150 countries across Europe, the Middle East, Africa, South America, Asia and Australasia.
Yahsat's operating profit increased 28 per cent on an annual basis to Dh422 million in 2022 due to the rise in revenue, it said.
Profit for 2022 declined 6 per cent year-on-year because of an impairment charge related to an investment in Brazil, the company said in its preliminary results.
Profit attributable to shareholders reached Dh241 million last year, down from Dh256 million in 2021.
This reflects “a non-cash impairment charge against the group’s equity-accounted joint-venture in HPE Brazil that was partially offset by the group’s improved underlying performance”, Yahsat said.
Yahsat owns a non-controlling 20 per cent stake in HPE Brazil, according to its website.
The group’s audited consolidated financial statements are expected to be released on February 28, it said.
Yahsat has a fleet of five satellites that extend its reach to more than 80 per cent of the world’s population, enabling critical communications such as broadband connectivity, broadcasting as well as mobility solutions.
It is planning to launch the Thuraya 4 Next Generation Satellite (T4-NGS) in 2024 to boost its operations. The satellite is expected to commence commercial services in the first half of 2025.
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Notable salonnières of the Middle East through history
Al Khasan (Okaz, Saudi Arabia)
Tamadir bint Amr Al Harith, known simply as Al Khasan, was a poet from Najd famed for elegies, earning great renown for the eulogy of her brothers Mu’awiyah and Sakhr, both killed in tribal wars. Although not a salonnière, this prestigious 7th century poet fostered a culture of literary criticism and could be found standing in the souq of Okaz and reciting her poetry, publicly pronouncing her views and inviting others to join in the debate on scholarship. She later converted to Islam.
Maryana Marrash (Aleppo)
A poet and writer, Marrash helped revive the tradition of the salon and was an active part of the Nadha movement, or Arab Renaissance. Born to an established family in Aleppo in Ottoman Syria in 1848, Marrash was educated at missionary schools in Aleppo and Beirut at a time when many women did not receive an education. After touring Europe, she began to host salons where writers played chess and cards, competed in the art of poetry, and discussed literature and politics. An accomplished singer and canon player, music and dancing were a part of these evenings.
Princess Nazil Fadil (Cairo)
Princess Nazil Fadil gathered religious, literary and political elite together at her Cairo palace, although she stopped short of inviting women. The princess, a niece of Khedive Ismail, believed that Egypt’s situation could only be solved through education and she donated her own property to help fund the first modern Egyptian University in Cairo.
Mayy Ziyadah (Cairo)
Ziyadah was the first to entertain both men and women at her Cairo salon, founded in 1913. The writer, poet, public speaker and critic, her writing explored language, religious identity, language, nationalism and hierarchy. Born in Nazareth, Palestine, to a Lebanese father and Palestinian mother, her salon was open to different social classes and earned comparisons with souq of where Al Khansa herself once recited.
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