Saudi Telecom Company, the biggest telecoms operator in the kingdom by market value, reported a 15.6 per cent increase in fourth-quarter net profit on the back of lower operating expenses.
Net profit increased to 2.7 billion Saudi riyals ($733 million) in the three months to December 31, compared with 2.3bn riyals during the same quarter last year, the company said in a statement to Saudi Arabia's Tadawul stock exchange, where its shares trade.
Operating profit increased 37 per cent annually to 3.3bn riyals.
The company’s fourth-quarter revenue rose 14.7 per cent to 15.2bn riyals compared with the same period last year.
For the full year 2020, the company's net profit jumped almost 4 per cent to more than 11bn riyals, while revenues surged 8.4 per cent to nearly 59bn riyals.
“STC achieved the highest annual revenue in the past eight years,” Nasser bin Sulaiman Al-Nasser, chief executive of STC, said.
“This achievement was primarily due to the increased demand for STC's various services and products … and the company’s ability to meet this demand promptly and efficiently, especially during [the] Covid-19 pandemic,” he added.
Last month, STC announced an investment of $500m in cloud services in a partnership with venture capital fund eWTP Arabia Capital and Alibaba Cloud, the technology arm of Chinese e-commerce firm Alibaba.
In November, the company's digital payment arm STC Pay sold an equity stake of 15 per cent, worth 750m riyals, to Western Union. The proceeds will be used to develop the company and support its expansion plans, STC said.
The company’s earnings before interest, taxes, zakat, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) for the fourth quarter was 5.7bn riyals, an annual increase of 14.6 per cent.
STC is majority owned by the kingdom's Public Investment Fund, which holds a 70 per cent stake in the telecom company.
The company, which has its headquarters in Riyadh, has about 13,500 employees in Saudi Arabia and more than 19,000 across the STC Group.
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'Worse than a prison sentence'
Marie Byrne, a counsellor who volunteers at the UAE government's mental health crisis helpline, said the ordeal the crew had been through would take time to overcome.
“It was worse than a prison sentence, where at least someone can deal with a set amount of time incarcerated," she said.
“They were living in perpetual mystery as to how their futures would pan out, and what that would be.
“Because of coronavirus, the world is very different now to the one they left, that will also have an impact.
“It will not fully register until they are on dry land. Some have not seen their young children grow up while others will have to rebuild relationships.
“It will be a challenge mentally, and to find other work to support their families as they have been out of circulation for so long. Hopefully they will get the care they need when they get home.”
How the bonus system works
The two riders are among several riders in the UAE to receive the top payment of £10,000 under the Thank You Fund of £16 million (Dh80m), which was announced in conjunction with Deliveroo's £8 billion (Dh40bn) stock market listing earlier this year.
The £10,000 (Dh50,000) payment is made to those riders who have completed the highest number of orders in each market.
There are also riders who will receive payments of £1,000 (Dh5,000) and £500 (Dh2,500).
All riders who have worked with Deliveroo for at least one year and completed 2,000 orders will receive £200 (Dh1,000), the company said when it announced the scheme.
Islamophobia definition
A widely accepted definition was made by the All Party Parliamentary Group on British Muslims in 2019: “Islamophobia is rooted in racism and is a type of racism that targets expressions of Muslimness or perceived Muslimness.” It further defines it as “inciting hatred or violence against Muslims”.
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Dubai works towards better air quality by 2021
Dubai is on a mission to record good air quality for 90 per cent of the year – up from 86 per cent annually today – by 2021.
The municipality plans to have seven mobile air-monitoring stations by 2020 to capture more accurate data in hourly and daily trends of pollution.
These will be on the Palm Jumeirah, Al Qusais, Muhaisnah, Rashidiyah, Al Wasl, Al Quoz and Dubai Investment Park.
“It will allow real-time responding for emergency cases,” said Khaldoon Al Daraji, first environment safety officer at the municipality.
“We’re in a good position except for the cases that are out of our hands, such as sandstorms.
“Sandstorms are our main concern because the UAE is just a receiver.
“The hotspots are Iran, Saudi Arabia and southern Iraq, but we’re working hard with the region to reduce the cycle of sandstorm generation.”
Mr Al Daraji said monitoring as it stood covered 47 per cent of Dubai.
There are 12 fixed stations in the emirate, but Dubai also receives information from monitors belonging to other entities.
“There are 25 stations in total,” Mr Al Daraji said.
“We added new technology and equipment used for the first time for the detection of heavy metals.
“A hundred parameters can be detected but we want to expand it to make sure that the data captured can allow a baseline study in some areas to ensure they are well positioned.”
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COMPANY PROFILE
Name: HyperSpace
Started: 2020
Founders: Alexander Heller, Rama Allen and Desi Gonzalez
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: Entertainment
Number of staff: 210
Investment raised: $75 million from investors including Galaxy Interactive, Riyadh Season, Sega Ventures and Apis Venture Partners
