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STC Registers $2 Billion in Net Profit over Nine Months

STC Registers $2 Billion in Net Profit over Nine Months
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STC Registers $2 Billion in Net Profit over Nine Months

STC Registers $2 Billion in Net Profit over Nine Months

Saudi Telecom Group reported a net profit growth of 18.2 percent in the third quarter of 2017 compared to last year. Net profit growth for nine months was 7.5 billion riyals ($ 2 billion), up 10.4 percent.

“The financial results for Q3-17 were good due to the distinct growth in Enterprise and wholesales sectors revenue despite the decline in consumer revenue during the period,” the CEO Khaled Biyari said.

The Kingdom-based telecommunication provider attributed the growth in its year-on-year net profits to the decrease in revenues cost by SAR 1.72 billion.

“These good results were achieved despite the various economic and regulatory conditions in the domestic market,” Biyari added.

"These outstanding results were achieved as a result of company’s strategy adopted several years ago—which focuses on diversifying income sources and introducing innovative programs to improve operations efficiency,” he added.

The CEO also said that the improvement came “through increasing productivity and reducing costs”.

“STC through its various companies is collaborating with various government agencies and the private sector companies in Saudi Arabia to at a steady pace to create a modern environment which contributes to expanding and enhancing the digital environment,” added Biyari.

“The growth strategy adopted by the company recently aims to achieve the Kingdom Vision 2030 and the National Transition Program 2020. This means introducing major change to the telecommunications sector which will provide new opportunities outside the framework of traditional services,” he added.

Biyari also said that the market value of STC is expected to increase exponentially and rapidly.

STC competes in Saudi Arabia with Etihad Etisalat (Mobily) and Zain Saudi.

STC, which owns stakes in operators in the Gulf, Turkey and Asia, said in a separate statement that its board had proposed a cash dividend of 1 riyal per share for the third quarter.

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China Approves $840B Plan to Refinance Local Government Debt, Boost Economy

Visitors walk past a shop under construction with a dragon mural at the Sanlitun shopping district in Beijing, Friday, Nov. 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)
Visitors walk past a shop under construction with a dragon mural at the Sanlitun shopping district in Beijing, Friday, Nov. 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)
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China Approves $840B Plan to Refinance Local Government Debt, Boost Economy

Visitors walk past a shop under construction with a dragon mural at the Sanlitun shopping district in Beijing, Friday, Nov. 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)
Visitors walk past a shop under construction with a dragon mural at the Sanlitun shopping district in Beijing, Friday, Nov. 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)

China on Friday approved a 6 trillion yuan ($839 billion) plan to help local governments refinance their mountains of debt, in the latest push to rev up growth in the world’s second largest economy.

The plan will be implemented over the next three years, Xu Hongcai, vice-chairman of the National People's Congress's financial and economic committee, said at a news conference Friday.

Finance minister Lan Fo'an estimated that the hidden debt of local governments was 14.3 trillion yuan ($2 trillion) at the end of 2023. Hidden debt refers to debt that has not been disclosed publicly, The Associated Press reported.

Lan said 2 trillion yuan would be allocated each year from 2024 to 2026 to help local governments resolve their debts. He estimated that the amount of hidden debt will drop to 2.3 trillion yuan ($320.9 billion) by the end of 2028.

Officials also said Friday that the ceiling to issue special bonds will be raised to 35.52 trillion yuan ($4.96 billion) from 29.52 trillion yuan ($4.12 billion) for local governments.

Lan said that the implementation of such a large-scale replacement measure indicates a “fundamental shift” in China's approach to debt restructuring and said that China’s government debt risk was “controllable.”

Analysts have called for bold, multi-trillion-yuan measures to reinvigorate the world's second largest economy, which has yet to bounce back fully from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Local government debts have ballooned partly due to high spending and low tax revenues during the pandemic, but also due to a downturn in the property industry, since sales of land use rights, a key source of local government revenue, have sagged.

The central bank loosened restrictions on borrowing in late September, sparking a stock market rally, but economists say the government needs to do more to ignite a sustained recovery. Government officials have indicated that could come at this week's meeting of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, which must give official approval to any new spending.

The economy has shown signs of life in the past two months. Purchase subsidies offered to people who trade in old cars or appliances for new ones helped auto sales rebound in September. A survey of manufacturers turned positive in October after five straight months of decline, and exports surged 12.7% last month, the largest increase in more than two years.

For most of the year, the ruling Communist Party appeared more focused on addressing long-term structural issues with the economy rather than short-term ones. Previous steps to boost the economy were piecemeal, seemingly aimed at keeping the economy afloat rather than sparking a robust recovery.

In recent weeks, the party has signaled a growing concern about the economy's sluggishness as it tries to meet its goal of achieving growth of around 5% this year. The central bank's monetary easing was followed by government pronouncements that it still has ample funds to pump into the economy.

Still, the longer-term goals of transforming China into a high-tech and green energy economy seem likely to remain the chief aims of the Communist Party, which doesn't face election pressures like the ones that toppled the Democrats and swept Donald Trump's Republicans to power in America this week.