Page 46 - SALIK PR REPORT FEBRUARY 2024

“To be honest, I am very happy about the new toll gates,” Dean said. “I don’t use
those routes so it doesn’t really add to my spending, but I think it will definitely
drive the share prices higher. I think it is one of the best investments I had made.”

Listening to his daughter
For A. Iqbal, the decision to buy the IPO happened by chance. “I was skeptical but
my teen daughter reasoned that it would be a good investment,” he said. “We
had a discussion and she said that with thousands of cars using Salik every day,
the chances of the share values going down were very limited. I thought she had
a fair point and decided to invest.”
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Salik officially opened its IPO subscription in September 2022 and raked in over
Dh184 billion — being oversubscribed 49 times.
He put in an initial bid of Dh5,000 but had to settle for Dh2,000 worth of shares
due to the oversubscription. “I knew that the IPO would garner interest as Salik is
something so commonly used,” he said. “However, I didn’t think it would be as
popular as it became.”
As someone who uses Sheikh Zayed Road every day for his commute to work,
Iqbal sees the new toll gates as a double-edged sword. “I am assuming the shares
will go up but so will my expenditure,” he said. “I will have to pay roughly Dh24
per day while going to and coming from office.”

Will it ease traffic?

Navya Muraly. — Supplied photo
Youngster Navya Muraly also bought the Salik shares when the IPO was
announced but she is not convinced the new toll gates will ease traffic.
“I believe that months from now, because of the new toll gates, we can anticipate
a rise in taxi fares and we have to cope with additional expenses that might arise,”
she said. “This is not ideal considering companies are not even increasing
salaries.”
However, she admitted that she hoped to reap the benefits of her shares. “The
prices in the market have been so promising so far. With two more gates being
introduced, I am hoping we get higher returns in the form of dividends. However,
as we all know the market is always fluctuating, this factor can always change but
since this is a semi-government owned company. I don’t see it falling beyond a
certain price.”

https://www.khaleejtimes.com/uae/transport/uae-salik-shareholders-reap-benefits-share-concerns