Palestine Telecommunications Company (PalTel) Announces Financial Results for H1 2012

Palestine Telecommunications Company (PalTel) Announces Financial Results for H1 2012 PR Newswire RAMALLAH, Palestine, August 13, 2012 RAMALLAH, Palestine, August 13, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Net Income reached US$ 58m while economic activity in the market place is experiencing retraction on the short term Classified by Palestine exchange as the leader company in dividends payout , distributed over 90% of USD 74.2 Million to shareholders this year The Palestine Telecommunications Company, PalTel announced its financial results for the first half of 2012. Consolidated net operating revenues grew by 0.3% to reach US$ 258m at the end of H1-2012 compared with US$ 257m at the end of H1-2011. In regards to the operating revenues of each segment, the company achieved a growth in its mobile and data revenues by 0.6% and 68.8% respectively while fixed Line and Media revenues dropped by 9.0% and 11.8% respectively. The consolidated operating income reached US$ 83m by the end of H1-2012 compared with US$ 91m by the end of H1-2011,. The growth rates in revenues and operating results for the current period have been affected by several external developments, principal of which was the devaluation of the Israeli Shekel (collection currency) versus the Jordanian Dinar (reporting currency) where the average exchange rate during the first six months of 2012 was 5.36 ILS/JOD compared to 4.96 ILS/JOD the same period of last year.