Leading Saudi telecom group stc has announced that it has delivered solid results for the first six months of the year with its net profit profit soaring to SR6.1 billion ($1.62 billion), up 4.2% over the same period last year, while its revenue registered a 8.2% growth to hit SR36.5 billion ($9.7 billion)

 

Announcing its preliminary financial results for the six-month period ended June 30, 2023, stc said the Gross Profit for the first half of 2023 reached SR18.5 billion with an increase of 0.90% over last year. 

 

The semiannual results of 2023 do not include profits from the land sold. In accordance with the dividends distribution policy for three years period starting from the 4th quarter of 2021, which was ratified during the Ordinary General Assembly Meeting on 30-11-2021. 

 

In addition to the amendment on the dividends distribution policy, which was ratified by the Extraordinary General Assembly Meeting last year, by distributing an amount of SAR 0.40 per share per quarter, stc will offer a total of SR1.9 billion in cash dividends to the shareholders for Q2 2023.

 

This represents SR0.40 per share as the total number of Treasury shares related to the Employees Stock Incentives Plan stood at 15,526,653 shares at the end of the second quarter 2023 and those shares are not entitled for any dividends distribution. 

 

On the solid results, stc Group CEO Olayan Mohammed Alwetaid said the performance is in line with the company’s vision and strategy “DARE 2.0”, which includes expansion in size and scope.

 

"stc Group, through one of its key subsidiaries, solutions, has signed a binding offer to acquire 40% of Devoteam Middle East, a leading company in the field of innovative digital business consulting," he noted. 

 

"This expansion will enhance stc Group's capabilities in the information technology sector and enable digital transformation through an integrated system of subsidiaries specialized in digital infrastructure, internet of things, cloud computing, cybersecurity, digital financial services, business outsourcing services and others," stated Alwetaid.

 

In light of the Group’s role as a leading digital enabler in the kingdom and region, stc said the “center3” (one of the group’s subsidiaries), has announced the arrival of the world’s longest submarine cable “2Africa” to Jeddah and Yanbu, and to reach Duba later this year and Al-Khobar during 2024. 

 

This cable is one of the longest submarine cables in the world and will connect 33 countries across three continents: Africa, Asia and Europe. 

 

In addition, “center3” signed a strategic agreement with “Huawei” to establish a cloud region in the Kingdom, which will provide a high level of advanced and secure cloud services to provide data hosting services and meet the growing demand for cloud services. 

 

Moreover, “center3” has also increased the capacity of its data center in Riyadh by 9.6 megawatts, aiming to improve and increase the capacity of data hosting services provided by “center3” to its customers, which contributes to strengthening the Kingdom’s position as a regional digital center.

 

Further and as part of the Group’s endeavor to support entrepreneurship, enable innovation in the kingdom and contribute to the promotion of digital economy in technology fields, stc Group announced that the value of investments obtained by the entrepreneurs participating in the “InspireU” accelerator has reached more than SR700 million. 

 

Furthermore, “InspireU” accelerator has succeeded in enabling more than 90 emerging digital projects in various fields since inception, and the market value of investments and financial transactions for projects incubated by the program is amounted to more than SR12 billion. 

 

In addition, more than 40 million users benefited from “InspireU” entrepreneurial projects, which provided more than 600,000 job opportunities that confirms stc’s contribution to promoting the digital economy, creating job opportunities and supporting local content by transforming entrepreneurs’ ideas into successful projects.