Etisalat has become the latest company in the UAE to reward investors with a dividend payout.
It comes just days after the company announced its US$12 billion (Dh44.07bn) bid to acquire a controlling stake in its Kuwaiti rival Zain failed.
The dividend of 60 fils a share was recommended by the company's board of directors earlier in the year, and was approved yesterday by the general assembly.
"We have proposed a final dividend of Dh0.35 per share, bringing the total dividends for the year to Dh0.60," Mohammed Omran, the Etisalat chairman, said in a statement.
"This represents a dividend yield of 6 per cent at the year-end stock price. We are pleased that total share returns for the 12-month period ended December 31 2010, including capital gains and dividends, were a healthy 13 per cent."
Shrouk Diab, a telecommunications analyst at Rasmala in Dubai, said Etisalat's dividend payments had been increasing over recent years.
"It's customary for Etisalat to either distribute stock or cash dividends, and they are usually pretty generous," Ms Diab said.
The 60 fils a share for last year compares with 55 fils for 2009 and 45 fils when adjusted for the latest stock issuance, Ms Diab said. The news did not weigh heavily on Etisalat's share price, which closed unchanged at Dh11.
Mr Omran said Etisalat had "maintained its prudent approach to evaluating acquisition opportunities".
The telecoms giant said its offer of 1.7 Kuwaiti dinars for each Zain share was "no longer viable", citing several reasons for ending the talks.
These included regional unrest and disagreement among Zain shareholders. Mr Omran pointed to growth in overseas markets but declining revenues in its UAE operations.
"The growth was offset, though, by the revenue and earnings decline in our flagship UAE operation, which is natural and expected as our home market has entered an advanced stage of saturation and maturity," he said.
"As a result, mobile and fixed services witnessed a modest decline in operations."
