Jazeera Airways shareholders approve KD20 million special cash dividends for 2014

Jazeera Airways Group shareholders today approved a board proposal for the cash distribution of KD20 million as special dividend for the year 2014 during the company’s 13th Annual General Meeting of Shareholders that was held at the company’s offices in Freedom Town, Kuwait.

Jazeera Airways Group Chairman, Marwan Boodai, said: “In 2014 the board of directors made the strategic decision to further capitalize on the growth opportunities in our home market by focusing more on our core business, the passenger airline business, and to exit the capital-intensive aircraft leasing business with the sale our fleet of aircraft in January of 2015. The transaction is reflected our 2014 financial accounts and resulted in an additional cash surplus of KD24 million for the year 2014 and lifted Jazeera Airways Group's cash balance to KD82 million, almost double our authorized and paid up capital of KD42 million. As a result, the company today is cash-rich, asset-light, and plans to be debt-free by end of 2015 to pursue growth opportunities Jazeera Airways.”

“In addition to the KD 20 million special dividend that was approved today, Jazeera Airways’ board of directors has recommended the distribution of an additional KD30 million in cash in 2015, subject to shareholder approval, in the form of shareholder payouts as part of a share buyback scheme targeted to readjust the company’s capital inline with the size of our current operations”, said Boodai.

The company’s share buyback program, planned to take place in the second half of 2015, will be the first voluntary share buyback program exercise in Kuwait based on the new share buyback procedures stated by Kuwait’s new Commercial Companies Law (97/2013).

Shareholder payments in 2015 may reach KD30 million, and will include a KD22 million payout for the purchase of 220 million shares out of the total 420 million outstanding issued shares at the nominal price of 100 fils (KD0.1) and up to KD8 million in 2015 earnings and other reserves that are required by law to be distributed prior to executing the planned share buyback program.

All payments will be executed separately in the next several months with the last payment expected to take place in August 2015, pending regulator and shareholders approvals.