Welcome to Ooredoo's Financial Results Call for the year 2023. My name is Andreas Goldau, and I'm in charge of investor relations. This is my 58th consecutive and final results call for Ooredoo. Happy to finish on a high note with some record numbers. Thank you for your support to the last almost 15 years. I'm handing over the ESG part to Ahmed Al Neama and the investor relations part to Luelle Pillay. Over to you, Luelle. What do we have on the agenda for today?
Thank you, Andreas. Today I am joined by Aziz Aluthman Fakhroo, CEO and Managing Director, as well as Eyas Assaf, our Deputy CFO, filling in for Abdullah, our Group CFO, who has out-of-office commitments this week. Aziz will start with an update on how we've progressed against our strategy and take us through the consolidated results, after which Eyas will provide an overview on the operational performance. As always, we will keep the presentation brief to allow ample time for your questions. Please type your questions into the Q&A section of the Zoom seminar at any time. The presentation is available on the Ooredoo website at ooredoo.com as well as on this webcast. The recording and transcription of the session has started now, so by attending the session, you consent to being included. Please note the usual disclaimer on slide number two.
On that note, I hand over to Aziz.
Hello and welcome to our 2023 Investor Call. Before we dive into our 2023 performance, it's worth taking a minute to affirm and reiterate our strategy. We're positioning Ooredoo as the leading digital infrastructure provider in the region, an efficient telecom operator at the core, and enhancing the value of existing assets within our infrastructure stack by turning them into independent profit centers. To do so means we need to invest in our people, protect and grow our customer base, and drive growth by positioning our tower and data center asset as well as our fintech activities as standalone entities. 2023 has been a very busy year. So let me update you briefly on our progress against our priorities. In December, as many of you are aware, we finalized a significant agreement to establish the larger tower company in the MENA region.
This transaction crystallizes the value on our passive mobile infrastructure, valuing our 18,000 towers at roughly $1.7 billion. It also gives us a 49.3% stake in the resulting JV valued at $2.2 billion. Upon the closing, in each market, we'll receive cash equalization payments. In the data center vertical, we have completed the carve-outs in Qatar and Tunisia. Kuwait and Iraq will follow suit. We are in discussions with specialized data center operators to partner or come in as minority investors, bringing in the skills and expertise needed to accelerate this vertical. In the fintech vertical, we've carved out our Qatari operation as a wholly-owned subsidiary. We have received an approval in principle for our license in Oman and are in the testing phase. We continue to pursue license applications in Iraq, Kuwait, and Tunisia, which we're hoping to receive within this year. Turning to our 2023 financial results.
We maintain our positive momentum into the last quarter of 2023 with an improvement in all financial metrics. In 2023, we grew revenue and improved profitability. A key highlight to note is that we achieved an all-time high reported net profit at QAR 3 billion. I'm pleased to announce that the board has recommended a dividend of QAR 55 compared to QAR 43 last year per share. This is a 28% year-on-year increase. From a strategic perspective, as I've already mentioned, we signed definitive agreements with our partner Zain and TASC to create the MENA's largest telco company with over 30,000 towers. IOH continues to realize synergies from the merger at a higher end of our target range and in an accelerated time frame.
The key financial highlights for the full year are growth on all key metrics: a 2% increase in revenue to QAR 23 billion, reported EBITDA grew by 4%, just shy of QAR 10 billion, reported EBITDA margin improved by 1 percentage point to 42%, free cash flows are up by 4% to QAR 6.9 billion, and, as already mentioned, reported net profit is up by 28% to QAR 3 billion. On a normalized basis, net profit was up by 16%. We had a solid Q4, as you can see on this slide. Let's move on to the next slide for the revenue bridge. Our full-year revenue was up by 2%. This was driven by our operation in Iraq, Algeria, Kuwait, and Maldives, which maintained their growth trajectory through the year. Myanmar and Palestine grew in local currency but were impacted by currency depreciation.
Qatar's revenue was softer as the 2022 base was boosted by the World Cup. Onto the next slide for an overview of our EBITDA performance. On a full-year basis, we grew EBITDA by 4%, an improved margin by 1 percentage point to 42%. We benefited from solid growth in service revenue and a strict OPEX control. Oman's EBITDA was affected by lower gross margin and higher OPEX. Qatar's lower EBITDA was mainly due to softer top-line growth. Now turning to the net profit. Full-year net profit numbers were solid. Reported net profit increased by 28% to QAR 3 billion, an all-time high for the group. On normalized basis, growth was 16% to QAR 3.3 billion, also an all-time high. These numbers are a testament to our ongoing focus on profitability and efficiencies. In the following slide, you can see the bridge between reported and normalized net profit.
I think these charts are self-explanatory. In 2023, we took a goodwill impairment charge on Ooredoo Tunisia as well as an impairment on Iraqi and Palestinian fixed assets. That was offset by a one-off gain. NMTC won its legal case this year that translated into a gain of QAR 446 million. We made a QAR 139 million revaluation gain on the MEEZA IPO in Qatar. Q4 net profit increased by 27% on a reported basis and 8% on a normalized basis. In the following slide, you can see the bridge between reported and normalized net profit. The main adjustments for Q4 were additional impairment charges on Tunisia goodwill, an impairment on fixed assets in Iraq, restructuring of the network, and Palestine-Gaza war infrastructure damage. We maintained our 2023 Capex spend around the 2022 levels. Spend in Tunisia and Iraq were driven by network upgrades.
In Maldives, we extended fiber coverage across the islands. In Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Capex spend declined as most of the network upgrades and the 5G upgrades were done in the previous years. In Myanmar, we continue to manage this operation on minimal Capex only. We ended the year with strong free cash flow generation. Free cash flow grew by 4% to QAR 6.9 billion on improved profitability mainly. On a consolidated basis, we grew our customer base by 3% from 56 million subscribers to about 58 million subscribers. Every opco managed to grow their customer base. As previously reported, the decline in our Qatari customer base is due to a change in the definition of prepaid customer. On a like-for-like basis and excluding the FIFA connection in 2022, our customer base in Qatar grew by 2%.
As you have seen through this presentation, we have delivered strong results for the year and, in turn, achieved the 2023 guidance targets. Our revenue is ahead of our guidance, up by 2%, EBITDA margin expanded by 1 percentage point to 42%, and Capex spend was within our target. We maintain the same guidance for 2024 financial year, expecting revenues to remain flat with revenue growth in most of our opcos in local currency. In terms of EBITDA, we expect to have an EBITDA margin in the low to mid-40s% with a strong focus on cost control. Lastly, on Capex, given our strategic focus on the data center vertical, our Capex spend will increase to around QAR 3.5 billion this year. This slide reiterates the group's strong financial position, leverage is low and below our board guidance.
We have worked with our lenders to extend availability of our existing RCF up to 2028. We now have ample liquidity to cover our various maturities. We are also structurally hedged for interest rate hikes as 96% of our debt is a fixed rate. Given that this is the most recurrent question we get, I thought we would conclude my section by highlighting our shareholder returns over the past five years. In the chart, you'll see the trajectory of dividend payments, affirming the value we have generated for our shareholder over the years. Healthy dividend payouts with a cumulative increase of 120% since 2019. Our dividend policy aims for a dividend payout of between 40%-60% of normalized earnings. For the past two years, we have been at the top of that range.
For 2023, the board recommended a dividend of 55 dirhams per share and a dividend yield of 5.2%, representing a 28% increase over 2022 and a 59% payout ratio. That concludes my section. I now hand over to Eyas for the operational review.
Thank you, Aziz. Good afternoon, everyone. I'll take you through our operational performance for 2023. Let's start with our home market, Qatar. Full-year reported revenue declined by 8%. A few impacts to note. First, we discontinued our low-margin transit revenue. Second, we carved out the fintech business. And the last point or the third point, as you remember, that 2022 benefited from the FIFA World Cup. On a normalized basis, revenue was flat. EBITDA decreased by 6% year-on-year due to higher comparison base and one-off impacts. Normalizing for the revenue impacts I mentioned and as well as one-off provisions, EBITDA declined only by 1%.
Reported EBITDA margin remained solid at 49%. It's worth highlighting that the normalized EBITDA margin was 52%. Moving to Kuwait, Kuwait benefited from operational efficiencies and solid commercial momentum. The operation grew customer base by 5%. That helped drive a revenue growth of 4%. EBITDA for the year increased by 14%, while the margin expanded by 3 percentage points thanks to higher service revenue and effective cost control. Moving to Oman, competition remained intense, mainly in the mobile prepaid segment. As a result, revenue remained flat despite growth on mobile postpaid segment. Pressure on top-line and gross margin, as well as slightly higher operational costs, led to EBITDA decreasing by 9% year-on-year. Oman managed to sustain a solid EBITDA margin of 47% through the year. There has been a positive trend sequentially, and Q4 revenue was 5% higher than Q3 2023. Turning to Iraq.
Asiacell was once again a strong performer, delivered double-digit revenue and EBITDA growth while expanding its customer base. Full-year revenue grew by 21%. VAT exemption on telecom recharge encouraged usage in voice and data services, supporting top-line growth. EBITDA increased by 24% while margin expanded by one percentage point to 44%. One-off costs have been incurred in Q4, impacting EBITDA performance for the quarter. Moving to Algeria. Ooredoo Algeria was another star performer for the group in 2023. The customer base grew 3% to 13.4 million. We had strong momentum in revenue as it increased by 11%, in part due to a 5% appreciation of the dinar. EBITDA surged by 26% with a notable five percentage point increase in margin, which now stands at 40%. This strong performance is a testament to enhanced efficiency and driving profitability within the organization. Moving from Algeria to Tunisia.
Ooredoo Tunisia felt the impact of a challenging operating environment. Full-year revenue remained flat while EBITDA declined 15%, and the EBITDA margin compressed by seven percentage points. We continued to invest in the country, with the spend on the mobile infrastructure being off. We ranked first also in the customer satisfaction, and we also continued to roll out fiber to advance our competitiveness. Now moving to Asia. In Myanmar, currency depreciation had impacted our reported financials. However, on a local currency basis, revenue grew by 4% due to growth in voice and fixed revenue. EBITDA improved by 4% despite the challenging external environment. Turning to Maldives, we increased our investment in the infrastructure, which helped us to gain market share, grow our share of the customer wallet, increase revenue, and improve profitability. In 2023, our revenue grew by 9%.
EBITDA also increased by 14%, while margin improved by 3 percentage points to 56%, which is the highest margin within the group. In Palestine, our focus is on the well-being of our staff and ensuring our customers stay connected through the challenging situation in the country. On a reported basis, revenue decreased due to a 9% depreciation of the local currency against the US dollar, which is our reporting currency. Excluding the negative exchange rate, revenue increased by 2%, EBITDA increased by 14%, with a robust EBITDA margin of 39%. Last but not least, Indonesia. IOH released results two weeks ago. Reflecting double-digit growth, revenue grew by 10% with an even stronger growth in EBITDA of 22% and 47% EBITDA margin. This concludes my operational review. Back to the IR team. Thank you.
Thank you very much, Eyas. Before we head into the Q&A session, you will see on your screen the upcoming conferences that we intend to participate in, details to be confirmed. Our annual general meeting is scheduled for the 6th of March. Now to the Q&A part. For the Q&A session, I'm joined by senior leadership, in addition to Aziz, the MD and CEO, Eyas, our Deputy CFO, and we also have our Head of Strategy, Rene Werner. To ask a question, type your question in the Q&A section of this Zoom session, or raise your virtual hand, and I'll unmute your audio when it's your turn. Or if you're connecting via phone line, please push star nine to ask a question. We have our first question in the typed part of this Q&A session.
For EBITDA growth guidance, the slide said low 40s % margin, but the commentary said low to mid-40s. Which should we use, Aziz?
Well, we're currently at 42% this year, 42. So our target is to sustain that level or improve it. We had given during the Strategy Days that we were looking to target the mid-40s within the next couple of years. So we're staying on that guidance. You should appreciate our ambition.
Definitely. Thank you, Aziz. Our next question is from Nishit Lahotia from SICO Bank. Which countries will see first progress in the TowerCo Deal, and when is it expected to begin?
So for the TowerCo Deal, our priority is to close probably Qatar first, as this is our home market, and Iraq as it's the largest market and also the market where both Zain, our partners, and ourselves operate, and therefore where there are the most synergies. We then look to very quickly, within the year or maybe a bit towards next year, close the subsequent markets, which are Kuwait, Algeria, and Tunisia.
Thank you. Our next question is also a typed question. Please feel free to also ask all your questions. Ooredoo has recently modified its articles of association to include quarterly payout for dividends. So should we expect dividend to be paid more frequently this year? This is from Nishit Lahotia again.
Well, we tried to give you a slide, a full slide on dividends this time, but the questions keep coming. Now, we've modified the articles of association in accordance with the change of regulations of the QFCRA, which gives the board the flexibility to decide on interim or one-off dividends as we currently pay. But once again, this will be a decision reserved by the board.
Next question from Kuran Adamson. Please elaborate more on your capital allocation priorities going forward. The leverage ratio remains below the target level. Are you looking at more M&A opportunities, or do you expect to keep the low leverage on a sustainable basis?
So maybe I'll let Eyas out to take it a bit further. In general, from an operational standpoint, as a telco, we like to sustain quite a low leverage. I think this gives us a competitive advantage. Also, as you mentioned, this would give us the firepower, if needed, on an opportunistic basis to do inorganic growth. So it's through acquisition, whether by buying telco operation, as we've been doing over the past year, some very small ancillary acquisition in the footprints where we operate, or to enhance our telco platform and data center platform and fintech platform. This gives us quite a lot of agility. But you should also remember that from the moment we close the telco transaction, from an accounting perspective, the leases will suddenly be accounted as debt liabilities to our IFRS.
So normally, on a status quo basis, once we close all our markets in the telco basis and correct me if I'm wrong, I think we go from 0.9-1.2 times net debt to EBITDA just by the virtue of the leases.
Yeah, we'll move from, as Aziz to develop 1.7. And we are expecting, once we close all of them, we'll go between 1.5 even. We might reach 1.5. Therefore, the current dividend of the 1.5-2.5 is we keep it as it is for the time being till we finish the telco deal and see the profit back.
Great. Let's move to an audio question. Omar Maher from EFG Hermes, you may ask your question.
Thank you. Hi everyone, and thank you very much for the presentation. Question on Iraq, specifically on the outlook for 2024 post or beyond the positive impact that you're seeing from the cancellation of the value-added tax. And the question is basically, should we see a return to normal, lower growth after the one-time impact from this cancellation? I'm specifically looking at what happened back in 2017. I think that the VAT was implemented towards the end of 2016. And for the two operators whose data is available publicly, we saw immediately a 20% drop in revenue in the year following that, and then kind of the growth returned to normal. So I'm wondering if we're expecting to see the same trend but the other way around.
Yeah. For Iraq, like I said, last year, we saw an increase or improvement due to different factors. One of them is the VAT or the sales tax removal. But also we saw in Q3, Q4, this interconnection related to Korek where the regulator stopped the interconnection. Therefore, it gave more reason or more help to push the numbers. We are not expecting that the regulator or the government would cancel the decision on the VAT. Therefore, we don't expect a drop, but maybe also we don't expect two-digit growth in 2024. In general, as you know, we usually give outlook for the group. As Aziz highlighted, what is our outlook for the group? We don't go off to buy it.
Understood.
Great. Thank you. Sticking on Iraq, regarding the Iraq operation, can you please elaborate on the kind of one-off costs incurred in Q4? And can you elaborate on the drivers behind the top-line growth in Q4?
The driver for the top-line growth I highlighted is a mix of many things. We said it's the VAT, which happened beginning of the year or December 2022. Also in Q4, this storage of interconnection with Korek and both by regulatory. Regarding the one-off time of there's two items. One is related to restructuring. Member restructuring happened in December. And the second item is related to sites-related costs related to municipality. Both items are giving around IQD 37 billion.
Thank you. Next question. Any update on introducing Corporate Tax in Qatar in 2025? If so, what kind of a percentage would be charged? Any cut on this is appreciated.
As of today, we are discussing this with the tax authority. Most probably, it would be around 15%, but the date of implementation is not yet finalized by the tax authority and the regulator. That's it for me.
Okay. Next question. When does management expect to receive cash proceeds from the asset equalization process? Would it be in tranches or in bulk?
So as mentioned during our capital markets day and also, I think, during the slides, it will be in tranches as we close different markets. Our first market goes as an equity contribution. And then as the value of our contribution exceeds the existing value of the assets within TASC, which is basically Jordan and Iraq, then we will start receiving equalization payments.
Thank you. The 1.5 times netted to EBITDA you mentioned, you will have after selling the towers and taking into account the PV of these operations, does it also account for the $550 million-$600 million in cash you will get from Zain? Also, what is the timing of these? Will they be paid in tranches within six months to one year, which I think you already covered?
Yeah. Without going exactly to the amount, we are going to receive it from Zain because it will take 1 or 2 years. We have to pay the income tax on the cost, and then we'll receive the dividend. When we highlight this 1.5, we said it's high-level estimation. And again, it depends about the timing of the closing and other items related to the tax paid in each country.
Thank you. Next question. Are you expecting to raise capital in the near term, so between 2024 and 2025, for Ooredoo? If yes, will it be in the form of debt? Also, once you start transferring these towers to a new entity, do you expect to raise the debt before the full transaction is complete, or once all the towers are transferred, you will look at the capital market activity?
So, different things. We're always also, and we had a slide on that. We've currently ensured that till 2028, all our maturities are covered easily by our existing facilities. Then again, we are in quite uncertain times in terms of rates. So if we do see a window where rates might be extremely compelling, like we did, by the way, when we preemptively refinanced some of our debt in 2021, which today seems a very good decision, we will probably act on it. As of today, we have no requirement for additional capital. We're definitely not looking to issue any equity. We wouldn't require this. When it comes to the asset transactions, and I'll talk a bit broader than just the towers, towers, and data center co., there's different logic which we expect, we explain. But also, these are slightly different businesses than the pure telco. They're annuity businesses.
Therefore, their capital stack is optimal with a different level of leverage. Over time, as the transactions are closed and their revenue and EBITDA is secured, definitely, we will look to refinance this vehicle to drive optimal returns for our shareholders.
Great. Thank you. Next question. Do you have any cut on the corporate tax in Kuwait, please?
Again, I think it's like cut-off. I think we are expecting that it will be imposed a corporate income tax around 15%. Timing and the cut-off date is not yet finalized.
Okay. Let's move to an audio question. Omar has another question.
Yeah. Thank you. Again, so two questions for me, please. The first one is a follow-up on the tax issue again in Kuwait and Qatar. Do you see a scenario, or are you maybe negotiating with regulatory authorities? Is there any sort of consultation whereby you could see some sort of a relief on the tax being offset against something else? Like, for instance, in Kuwait, you have the two taxes, the NLST and the KFAS. So I think these jointly are about 5%. So is there a scenario where you could see those being offset against part of the corporate tax and same for Qatar as well?
Maybe I'll take this one. Of course, as Ooredoo Group, we are in constant discussion with the different authorities. We are striving to minimize any impact due to taxation to Ooredoo Group and to its shareholders. The level and the details of this conversation, I think you would appreciate till nothing has been agreed or nothing has been done. It's not our place here to discuss them.
Sure. I understand this, Aziz. I appreciate it. But the reason I'm asking is because we saw kind of a sort of a similar scenario in UAE when they were about to implement the 9% corporate tax. I think there was a lot of back-and-forth discussion with the telecom operators on the potential reduction or review of the royalty to include some sort of a deductibility for once the tax is implemented.
Once again, I understand what is your question. We are very aware of what was done in the UAE. We've looked at all the neighboring countries where this has been implemented. We're trying to show precedent. We are in discussion with the authorities in the respective countries where this corporate tax might be implemented in a goal to reduce as much as we can the impact it would have to the group and to shareholders. Now, as you appreciate, these are ongoing discussions which take time, which are also extremely sensitive. And therefore, as long as we haven't reached a conclusion, we can't share the content of these conversations.
Understood. Thank you. And then my second question is actually on Qatar while we're at it. So are you starting to see any early signs of positive impact on growth from the inflow of expats ahead of the North Field LNG expansion projects?
So I don't know if we can attribute it to the inflow of expats from the North Field. What we did see, the way I would qualify it is probably, and it's quite normal, the first couple of quarters post-World Cup, there was a slowdown in the general activity within the country. And that's usually symptomatic of any country which goes through these exceptional events. There's a huge buildup of economic activity prior to the event and post the event, a bit like a recovery time or taking your breath. The economy just slightly slowed down. What we have seen, and you saw it in our reported numbers, is towards the end of Q3 and especially in Q4, we're starting to see a pickup in economic activity. And Ooredoo is seeing its share of it.
What would you attribute it to?
The pickup in economic activity?
In the last two quarters, yes. At the beginning, you said you're not sure if it's attributable to the expansion of North Field.
So, probably the North Field have. I think there's many components. There is also a component, as I explained, is after a significant event like the World Cup, there is a bit of a dormant period in the economic cycle of that country post the event. A lot of entities, a lot of government entities, private entities sort of have invested a lot of resources, energy, time, and take a breather. That usually lasts for two to three quarters, which has been the case in Qatar.
That's clear. Thank you. Thanks, Aziz.
Thank you. Our next question is from anonymous. How do you plan to gain market share from Korek in Iraq following the regulatory intervention? Any updates on the new telecom license tender with 5G exclusivity?
So given the regulatory developments on Korek, and as you know, interconnection has been ceased between the operators and Korek, there was a natural outflow of subscribers from Korek to both Asiacell and Zain, which is our competitor there. We've taken the lion's share, what we believe, actually quite a proportionate share of that versus our respective market share. Of course, our teams on the ground are commercially active and will seize on any opportunity to try and gain subscribers, whatever the events are. What was the second part of the question?
Updates on the new telecom license tender with 5G?
No. So we've seen the government announcement. That, again, we are in discussion. We are in discussion with the authorities to get clarity on what are the events, what does that mean. But we have no update. Again, it wasn't that much of a surprising news as it was being announced many times in the past in Iraq. It is one step forward, but I think there's still a long road to go before this becomes an active competitor.
Great. From DGD, any plans to issue bonds in the international markets this year?
I think I've answered that question as we have no requirements. We've renewed our RCFs, which gives us full funding to repay all our maturities till 2028. Then again, we will try to be opportunistic if we believe that there is an exceptional window in the rate environment which would benefit our capital structure and our shareholders.
From Ulay, do you see competitive environment in Oman stabilizing, or do you expect further aggressive competition and pricing pressure there? Will you be able to maintain your EBITDA margin in Oman? Also, what is your tower strategy?
Would you take the market?
Marketing.
Marketing.
With regards to the market, the Oman telecom market, we feel, is overcrowded, and it will stay as such. The competitive intensity is expected to stay where it is currently. We have put into place measures and activities to kind of maintain and protect the margin in terms of efficiencies, as well as in terms of products and go-to-market activities to basically protect our market position there. We're quite optimistic that we can maintain that position. We have growth areas around fixed as well, mobile, and ICT, and want to basically move forward with this. Good customer experience across the group is perceived by us as a priority. Ooredoo Oman has recently received also awards in this space. We intend to kind of follow that path moving forward to really keep our customer base happy and loyal to Ooredoo and with this win in the market.
When it comes to the tower transaction, Oman is, of course, a valuable block, a valuable asset, especially when you're talking about creating the leading tower company in the region. We are currently in discussion to see how to get Oman integrated in the future within our general tower portfolio strategy. That being said, our immediate focus right now and priority of resources is to close the key markets, as discussed previously in the, I think it was the first question.
Okay. Ahmed wants you to please re-answer the issue around dividends quarterly if you're going to issue dividends quarterly.
We've allowed the flexibility within our article of association. Hamed, please note that dividend policy is not at the discretion of the management. It's at the discretion of the board. So no one around the table has the authority to decide the dividend policy. It's actually your elected representative that decides, to which we report to, that decides the dividend policy of the company.
The next question from Anonymous. Your guidance will flat revenues. Is this because of expected FX headwinds? Why don't you expect growth even though your biggest two markets, Qatar and Iraq, are expected, as per prior comments, to register recovery and further growth, respectively?
Do you want to take it or forget it?
Neither.
We've historically announced them. Even this year, we had announced that we saw the top line nearly flatlining. We actually managed to grow the top line by 2%. In a similar way, when we look at provisions for the different markets between the different pressures, currency pressure, inflationary pressure, we do not see material or significant growth of the top line. But our big area of focus is actually growth in profitability. And this is really where we're focusing. And the top line growth is usually more driven by macro events, which are outside of our own control, whether the profitability of the company is driven by management control. So this is where we're more comfortable to go.
Another dividend one. The doubling of dividends in Wataniya this year, was it mainly because of the number ranges case win, or do you see this as sustainable?
No, this was.
Exception.
Exceptional.
From AGD, discuss the outlook for the difficult markets, Oman and Tunisia. Is competition becoming more rational in Iran?
I think that is a mistake.
Iraq.
Maybe they meant Iraq. Yeah, not Iran. Yeah.
Should I take it? Yeah. All right.
So in Tunisia, we went through a difficult macro environment. We've seen also our competition in that sense being at base. We have actually had a good last Q3 results. The Q4 results for our competition have not been published. We can only refer to the Q3 results where we see a market share stabilization. In Tunisia, we have been having stable market share in Tunisia for the last four quarters in that sense. But obviously, within the market fluctuation that we have, basically, the top line moves very obviously. In Oman, I mentioned earlier, we believe that the competitive intensity will stay there and that every market participant tries to hopefully act a little bit rational going forward. But we see also for us, there are growth opportunities in the fixed market, which is a quite substantial piece, actually, of our revenue mix in Oman.
This nevertheless comes at a different margin given that it is a wholesale-based business in Oman. So we believe there is growth, but it will come at a different margin structure. Competition in Iraq, will they act more rational? I think we have seen in Iraq a very strong performance of Asiacell over the last couple of quarters. With the recent special events, I would call that, with the interconnection changes with Korek, we see a substantial inflow of customers where Asiacell benefits from its strong brand, its strong customer experience, and its strong sales and marketing capabilities in the market. So we feel we'll kind of take share as we have seen also that our competition in Zain has taken share. The outcome of the 5G discussion, as Aziz mentioned earlier, is still to be sort of validated going forward with the respective authorities.
So again, we feel well prepared for competing in the Iraq market at rational terms.
Great. Any price increases across the markets that you've seen?
We usually look at this in a perspective where we say where we offer more value, we might look at how price is related to this. This is per se not, in general, a price increase statement. Obviously, where we see opportunities to kind of do rational pricing moves, especially with the introduction of new tariffs, we do the right things in the interest of also maintaining and keeping our profitability.
Okay. A compliment from anonymous. Ooredoo management has done an excellent job in turning around the business and maximizing shareholder returns in the past three years. Having said that, would management consider recommending to the board to change the dividend policy to be tied with the free cash flow instead of normalized EPS as other telcos do, such as Vodafone Egypt?
I can't really comment on what Vodafone Egypt has done. To the first part of your question, in the last three years, we took the company's net profit from QAR 900 million to, on a normalized basis, actually QAR 3.2 billion. Our dividend trajectory has followed exactly that. It actually puts Ooredoo, when you look at it in terms of total shareholder return, we were 47th in 2021. We were the leading telco in terms of total shareholder return last year, and we were number 11 this year. Again, I know you mentioned another operator in there. I don't think they made the top 20. So I think our dividend policy is quite good.
Touché. Okay. So let's go to an audio question from Omar. You can go ahead, Omar. Omar? Okay.
Yes. Sorry. I think I just forgot to lower the hand. Sorry.
Oh, it's okay. It only had a few things. Okay. From Pradyumna, what kind of accounting impact do you expect from the tower deal in terms of margins and EPS accretion or dilution?
So maybe I'll answer very high-level and not cynical. In general, we do believe this is a significant value accretion deal for our shareholder in the short term and in the long term. We had shared quite a lot of information at the Capital Markets Day presentation. Actually, a whole section is dedicated on the tower deal and the effect of it. I think the most detailed answer you could give is to go into our IR section on our website and pull that presentation. It's still up there. And you'll have a full breakdown of the transaction. I don't know if you want to add anything.
No, I think what I like, the most important thing is the effect on the net leverage. It might be around, we said, around 1.5. And at that time, we disclose all details. I agree with you. If you go to our website to find more details about the projection for our company.
Okay. Anonymous again, is there any deadline for the Myanmar sale to materialize before the deal becomes void due to the lack of regulatory approval? Any chance to settle for a lower price?
Internal deadline was yesterday and before yesterday. Maybe a couple of things. If you look at the performance, and that's the silver lining, the performance of Myanmar's operation actually has been very strong in the past two years. And even on a free-to-capital basis, as we've kept it on bare minimum Capex, the operation has been doing very, very well. We are pending one regulatory approval, and we are following up constantly with the authorities. I'm sorry. I know on this, we would like a bit of credibility because probably last year, at the same time, I said we're expecting to close within the first half of this year. A year later, I'm repeating the same thing, but we have zero notion. The deal is still out there.
We had actually, as we received preliminary approvals and telecom regulatory approval, we had renewed an extension of the transaction. So the transaction has no risk in becoming void for the time being.
Okay. Great. I don't see any more questions coming up. Oh, there's anonymous. Okay. Glad to see the plastic water bottles disappear. Thank you for noticing. Thank you, Andreas, for your long service and support. We on the south side appreciate it. Best of luck, Luelle. Thank you in carrying the torch. Finally, thanks for the call and that Ooredoo management keeps on delivering. Okay. So thank you for.
Thank you, anonymous.
Thank you.
Yeah. Next time, put up your name. So there's no more questions. Our Q&A results, please take note, is scheduled for release at the end of April. Please feel free to send the investor relations team any questions you may have after the call.
Leave one comment before we conclude.
I was going to say exactly the same thing. I think we all wanted to thank Andreas for his contribution. 12-year journey?
Yeah.
58 quarters. He's also spearheaded probably every single major IPO that Ooredoo has done. He's spearheaded also the Tower Co. So thank you very much for all your close interaction with us, of course, but especially with the IR teams and all the awards you want in terms of IR. Thank you.
Thank you. Thank you very much to the management, but also to the investors, the fund managers, and the analysts on the sales side. I really enjoyed the interaction and hope we stay in touch in the future. Thank you.
That concludes our 2023 investor call. Thank you.
Thank you.