Oman Telecommunications Company (Omantel) said on Wednesday a long-running court case in which former employees are demanding compensation for forced retirement would not affect its financial results.

Omantel, Oman's largest company by market value, said the court had already rejected 16 former employees' claims for compensation though 41 cases were still pending.

The 57 former staff had retired in 2003 and filed court cases demanding compensation for forced retirement. 'We would like to add that the management do not anticipate any material effect to the company's financial results consequent to these decisions,' the statement added.

An Omantel official, who declined to be identified, said even if the court decided to order compensation for the 41 outstanding cases, the decision would not impact the company's financials because the claims were relatively small.

The company, 70 per cent owned by the government, made a net profit of 105.8 million Oman rials ($275 million) in the first nine months of 2009 compared with 107.4 million in the same period in 2008.-Reuters