Page 17 - China Mobile Limited - Annual Report 2012

China Mobile Limited
Annual Report 2012
15
Chairman’s Statement
the “BRANDZTM Top 100 Most Powerful Brands” by Millward Brown and the Financial Times for the
seventh consecutive year, ranking 10th among all companies considered and 1st among all
Chinese companies. China Mobile, for the fifth consecutive year, was also the only Mainland
Chinese company to be recognized by the Dow Jones Sustainability World Index. We were also
included in the Hang Seng Corporate Sustainability Index for the third consecutive year and
received a “Sustainability Excellence Award” from the Chamber of Hong Kong Listed Companies.
In 2012, Moody’s and Standard & Poor’s maintained our corporate credit ratings at Aa3/Outlook
Positive and AA-/Outlook Stable, respectively, equivalent to China’s sovereign credit rating.
Company Dividends
In view of the Group’s stable profitability in 2012 and taking into consideration its long-term future
development, the Board recommends payment of a final dividend of HK$1.778 per share for the
financial year ended 31 December 2012 in accordance with the dividend payout ratio of 43%
planned for the full financial year of 2012. This, together with the interim dividend of HK$1.633 per
share that was paid in 2012, amounts to an aggregate dividend payment of HK$3.411 per share
for the full financial year of 2012.
In 2013, taking into consideration various relevant factors such as the Group’s overall financial
condition, cash flow generating capability and the needs for future sustainable development, the
Company’s planned dividend payout ratio for the full year of 2013 will be 43%.
The Board believes that the Company’s continuously stable profitability and strong cash flow
generating capability will be able to support future sustainable development, while providing
shareholders with a favorable return.
Future Outlook
China’s continued steady economic growth, its modern industrialization, informationalization,
urbanization, agricultural modernization with Chinese characteristics, and the drive to stimulate
domestic demand and consumption policy will provide us with a broad platform for developing the
information service industry. The government encourages proprietary technological innovation, and
fully supports the industrialization, commercialization and internationalization of TD-LTE, which will
help speed up its development as a new generation of wireless broadband technology. The era of
the mobile Internet has arrived with the rapid development of ICT, mobile broadband, intelligent
terminals and the cloud platforms, and as a result, is integrating information services into every
aspect of our lives. All these factors have brought us opportunities for development.
The field of information and communication is experiencing dramatic changes due to continuous
technological innovation and emerging new businesses. A new industry landscape is shaping up
quickly. Competition among communications operators is becoming increasingly fierce due to the
increasing saturation in the communications market. There is also a growing substitution effect
brought by the Internet business, causing more intense cross-sector competition. As the Group’s