Partner Seeks Court Approval for Unusual NIS 500 Million Dividend Amid Debt Increase
Partner Communications, led by former minister and CEO Avi Gabay and Chairman Shlomo Rodav, has filed a request with the court to approve an exceptional dividend payout of 500 million shekels despite not meeting profitability criteria. The company currently holds retained earnings of only 74 million shekels. To facilitate this dividend, Partner plans to issue bonds worth 750 million shekels, which would raise its net financial debt from 128 million to 783 million shekels. The court must be convinced that this move will not jeopardize the company’s financial stability.
Partner included a financial forecast prepared by Professor Zvi Wiener from the Hebrew University, projecting revenue growth of 14.5% to 18% by 2030, reaching approximately 3.7 billion shekels, with an annual growth rate of about 3%. EBITDA is expected to exceed 1.5 billion shekels, and net profit is forecasted to increase by roughly 80% to between 544 and 554 million shekels by 2030. The company anticipates generating over 1 billion shekels in free cash flow annually, resulting in a financial surplus of nearly 1.2 billion shekels by the decade’s end.
Additionally, Partner revealed plans to acquire a company next year for around 250 million shekels, likely within its operational sector. The company believes competition in the cellular market will continue to decline. The dividend strategy reflects Partner’s intent to return excess cash to investors, particularly the controlling group of Rodav, Gabay, and Phoenix, which acquired Partner in 2022 and appointed Gabay as CEO.
In 2024, Partner resumed dividend payments for the first time since 2012, distributing 250 million shekels, followed by another 465 million shekels earlier this year. The company ended 2025 with a 1% revenue increase to 3.1 billion shekels, an 8% rise in operating profit to 433 million shekels, and a 10% increase in net profit to 304 million shekels. Subscriber numbers grew by 47,000 to 2.68 million, including 839,000 5G subscribers. Average monthly revenue per user rose by one shekel to 43 shekels. Television subscribers slightly declined by 1,000 to 202,000, but the last quarter of 2025 saw a 6,000 subscriber increase, the first growth in four years, following a long-awaited content partnership with yes after regulatory hurdles.
