The diversity of Aamal’s business model undoubtedly provided great resilience in 2019, said CEO and managing director Sheikh Mohamed bin Faisal al-Thani while delivering chairman’s report at the company’s annual general meeting yesterday. 
“It is this diverse business platform that enables the company to play an important part in Qatar’s growing private sector and contribute to the growth of the country’s economy,” Sheikh Mohamed said.
Although 2019 saw significant market headwinds in the construction industry, Aamal responded positively in this very challenging environment, growing revenue and delivering a net profit to Aamal’s equity holders of QR322mn, he said, and noted “It is against this backdrop that the Board of Directors recommends a cash dividend of QR0.04 a share, subject to approval at the Annual General Assembly Meeting.”
Sheikh Mohamed said, “2019 marked a year of significant development in terms of how we embed environmental, social and governance considerations in the way we do business to achieve sustainable growth. “Most notably from a governance perspective, we developed a governance code to ensure Aamal is aligned with the highest levels of corporate standards and policies, implemented a code of conduct policy and a whistleblowing mechanism for all employees, ensuring they are able to act if they encounter any potential breaches of our standards. Furthermore, in 2019 we successfully completed the design and testing of an Internal Control Over Financial Reporting (ICOFR) framework and received a clean audit opinion from our auditors, PwC.”
The Board was delighted to welcome Sheikh Faisal bin Fahed al-Thani as an independent director who brings more than 30 years’ experience from working in several international companies in the oil and gas industry as well as experience as a main board director of a number of significant Qatari listed companies. 
“Further strengthening our executive management capability, the Board approved the appointments of Sheikh Mohamed bin Faisal al-Thani as chief executive officer and managing director, Mohamed Ramahi as adviser to the CEO and Imran Chughtai as chief financial officer.”
For Aamal, the outlook for the year ahead is “mixed”, he noted. A prolonged outbreak of Covid-19 is expected to have a negative impact on the group’s financial results for 2020.
“However, Aamal’s diverse business model continues to provide resilience in these challenging times and we are confident that our strategy remains appropriate for long-term sustainable growth.
While the Covid-19 pandemic is having an unprecedented impact on global financial markets, the long-term economic outlook is encouraging and we expect Aamal to leverage the opportunities generated by the Qatar National Vision 2030, supported by the wise vision of our Government under the leadership of His Highness Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani, the Amir of Qatar,” Sheikh Mohamed said.
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