Riyadh, Saudi Arabia — Saudi Telecom Company (stc) has posted its highest-ever quarterly revenues of SAR 18.17 billion ($4.84 billion) for the first three months of 2023, marking a 7.45 percent increase over the corresponding period last year.
The company’s net profits reached SAR 3.10 billion, an increase of 2.44 percent over the first quarter of 2022, while gross profits increased by 2.44 percent to SAR 9.35 billion.
Operating profits in the first quarter reached SAR 3.73 billion, marking a 2.43 percent decrease compared to the corresponding period of the year before.
The company will distribute SAR0.40 per share per quarter, and a total of SAR1.99 billion in cash dividends to the shareholders for the first quarter of 2023.
stc Group CEO Olyan Mohammed Alwetaid said that during the first quarter of this year, in line with the company’s “DARE 2.0” strategy, the group launched its Corporate Investment Fund (CIF), which aims to invest in early stages of startups in various domains, including fintech, cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, Internet of Things and other promising areas.
 Recently, stc Group announced its entry into the European market through its subsidiary TAWAL, a leading provider in ICT infrastructure. TAWAL has signed an agreement to acquire United Group’s telecommunications tower assets. The agreement, valued at 1.22bn euros (around SAR5 billion), supports stc Group’s ambitious strategy to expand its international footprint, stc said.