Etisalat Group has named Hatem Dowidar as acting chief executive after Ahmad Julfar resigned with immediate effect.
The announcement came as the telco, the UAE’s largest publicly traded company, reported year-on-year growth of 10 per cent in fourth quarter profits, in spite of falling revenues.
The company’s shares ended lower on Thursday.
A statement from the operator on the Abu Dhabi stock exchange said that Mr Julfar had resigned for “personal reasons”, giving no further detail.
Mr Dowidar, the chief operating officer, will remain as acting chief executive until the “restructuring of Etisalat Group by the end of June”, the company said.
The company declined to comment on the nature of the restructuring exercise. Mr Dowidar served as chief executive of Vodafone Egypt for five years, before joining Etisalat as group chief operating officer in October.
Mr Julfar, who is also the deputy chairman of the mobile phone industry body the GSM Association, was scheduled to give a keynote speech at last month’s Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, but pulled out of the event at the last minute for health reasons.
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“I would like to thank Mr Julfar for his contribution to the achievements of Etisalat Group and the leadership he has shown throughout his tenure,” said Etisalat Group chairman Eissa Al Suwaidi.
The announcement of Mr Julfar’s departure coincided with the telco’s announcement of revenues of Dh12.67 billion for the fourth quarter, a year-on-year decrease of four per cent, which it attributed to “one-off adjustments”.
Net income after federal royalty payments rose to Dh2.6bn for the quarter, a year-on-year increase of 10 per cent.
Etisalat also announced a final dividend of 40 fils a share for 2015, taking the full dividend for the year to 80 fils.
This compares with a cash dividend of 70 fils per share plus 10 per cent bonus shares for 2014.
The operator’s shares suffered their worst fall in more than three months, closing down nearly 4 per cent.
“The CEO’s resigning is neutral [on the share price],” said Tibor Bokor, director of equity research at Arqaam Capital.
“I think the guidance for 2016 is bit disappointing but the stock has been overbought, so it was a healthy correction.”
The company’s shares, which were made available to foreign shareholders for the first time in September, have risen by more than 50 per cent since last June.
