BY VG CABUAG AND LENIE LECTURA – OCTOBER 12, 2021
from Business Mirror
Engineering conglomerate DMCI Holdings Inc. has declared the highest dividend payout in its corporate history after its board approved the company’s declaration of special cash dividends.
In its special meeting, the DMCI board approved P6.37 billion in special cash dividends. The amount is on top of the P6.37 billion in regular and special cash dividends paid out by the company in April.
It declared a dividend of P0.48 per common share out of the unrestricted retained earnings of the company as of October 12.
With this additional special cash dividend, DMCI Holdings will end the year with P12.75 billion in total dividend payments, which represent 194 percent of the company’s consolidated core net income in 2020.
The 194-percent dividend payout ratio is the highest in the history of DMCI Holdings whose dividend policy commits to at least 25 percent of the preceding year’s consolidated core net income.
DMCI shareholders on record as of October 26 are entitled to a special cash dividend of P0.48 per share. Payment will be made on November 10.
The company’s total annual dividend of P0.96 reflects a cash dividend yield of nearly 12 percent based on its October 11 closing price of P8.10.
DMCI shares closed at P8.84 apiece on Tuesday, up by P0.74 from its previous close.
Meanwhile, the company also promoted Cherubim O. Mojica to senior vice president for corporate communications and investor relations from her previous post as vice president and corporate communications head.
DMCI said it recorded a consolidated net income of P9.5 billion in the first half, nearly five times the P2 billion it reported last year. The company said it is on track to hitting its annual pre-pandemic income.
The sharp increase was due to the rebound of its subsidiaries, Semirara Mining and Power Corp. (SMPC), DMCI Homes and DMCI Mining.
Consolidated core net income surged threefold to P8.3 billion from P2.6 billion a year ago. The figure includes a nonrecurring gain of P1.2 billion this year relative to the re-measurement of deferred tax liabilities as a result of the Corporate Recovery and Tax Incentives for Enterprises Act and P586-million net loss mainly from sales cancellations for a real estate project last year.
“Coal and nickel prices were rallying while our production was ramping up so our second quarter was even better than our first quarter. Revenue recognition in our real estate business also improved on higher productivity,” DMCI Chairman and President Isidro A. Consunji said.
For the second quarter alone, the company recognized consolidated net earnings of P5.2 billion, up by three times from the previous P1.4 billion. Excluding nonrecurring items, core net income grew by 166 percent to P4.2 billion from P1.6 billion.
SMPC dividend
SMPC on Tuesday declared a special cash dividend amounting to P7.4 billion.
Its board approved the special cash dividend, which is on top of the P5.3 billion in regular cash dividends paid out last April.
“With this additional special cash dividend, the total dividend payout of SMPC to its shareholders for 2021 will be P12.7 billion, the highest in its history,” it said in a statement.
Shareholders on record as of October 25 this year are entitled to a special cash dividend of P1.75 per share, the highest amount ever declared by the company. Ex-dividend date will be on October 20 while payment will be made on November 9.
The company’s total annual dividend of P3 per share translates to a cash dividend yield of almost 12 percent based on its October 11 closing price of P25.45.
The Consunji-led SMPC is the only vertically-integrated power producer in the country that mines its own fuel. The largest domestic coal producer, it supplies affordable fuel to power plants, cement factories and other industrial facilities across the Philippines.
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