Al-Jazeera to pay record dividends

Global Buyout Fund (GBF) announced yesterday that its 51 percent owned Al Jazeera Steel Products Company (Al-Jazeera), which is a listed company on Muscat Securities Market, will distribute 16 percent in cash dividends for 2012, the largest dividend payment in the history of the company.
In 2012, the company continued to report record results for the second consecutive year. It has reported a net income of OMR 3.4 million (OMR 0.027 per share), a 13 percent increase over 2011 profits that stood at OMR 3.0 million (OMR 0.024 per share). Revenues jumped 8 percent from OMR 91.2 million in 2011 to OMR 98.3 million in 2012.
Sulaiman Al-Rubaie, chairman of Al-Jazeera Steel Products Company representing GBF, said: “We are proud to have another successful year for Al-Jazeera and its stakeholders. These results are supported by relatively stable demand, a strong order book and reduced finance costs. Furthermore, these outstanding results could not have been achieved without the efficient inventory management, cautiousness of the management team and their exceptional performance in these challenging market environments.”
Al-Rubaie added: “The GBF team has played a major role in realizing the company’s turnaround strategy through its tight supervision in the implementation phase, opening up new areas for development and strengthening the management team over the last several years. The company is currently assessing several growth opportunities in the region aiming at diversifying revenue sources, strengthening the overall performance and minimizing operational risks given the currently challenging markets.”
Since the GBF team took control of the company five years ago, Al-Jazeera has been recording continuous growth in all aspects. Over this period, the company has recorded a compounded annual growth rate of 17.2 percent in revenues, witnessed the turnaround into profitability in 2010 and growth in 2011 and 2012, in addition to record high cash dividends in 2011 and 2012. During this period, the management, with the help of the GBF team, has followed an expansion strategy that started in 2009 by operating the newly developed MBM plant and penetrating new markets, such as North America, among others.