The board of directors decided to make a corresponding proposal to the 2023 general meeting, the company announced on Wednesday. Based on the payout ratio of the previous year and the average of the current earnings forecast, the total dividend for the 2022 financial year would thus total around EUR 1.2 billion. The association, which is 51 percent owned by the Republic of Austria, had increased its electricity tariffs on May 1st and thus received a lot of criticism. Considerations by Federal Chancellor Karl Nehammer (ÖVP) to skim off the profits of Verbund AG then led to a collapse in the price of the Verbund share on the stock exchange. On Tuesday, the company announced that it would credit all of its customers with two monthly bills. Low-income sections of the population are to be credited with a further 2 months.
On Wednesday, Chancellor Nehammer welcomed the Verbund board resolution to propose a special dividend. The step shows that the association, as a partially state-owned company, takes its responsibility very seriously in difficult times. “The special dividend is a clear signal that the company does not want to benefit from ‘windfall profits’ itself, but that this money can flow back to the people via the relief package and the special dividend,” Nehammer is quoted as saying in a press release from the Chancellery.
As the largest Verbund co-owner, the Republic of Austria could use the expected dividend and the special distribution to finance relief measures in the fight against inflation, Nehammer continued. Finance Minister Magnus Brunner (ÖVP) was commissioned by him to plan these funds accordingly to relieve people. According to the head of government, the public sector should not benefit from “windfall profits” in companies that are majority-owned by the republic.
Several state utilities will also be able to benefit from the special dividend, which is expected to be decided at the next ordinary general meeting in April 2023. The Lower Austrian company EVN, which is also listed on the stock exchange, and Wiener Stadtwerke together hold just over 25 percent of the association, with roughly equal shares. For example, EVN would receive EUR 50 million of the EUR 400 million special dividend.
The share prices of Verbund and EVN were boosted by the intention to pay a special dividend, which was announced on Wednesday afternoon. The Verbund share jumped more than 6 percent into the plus and most recently was 5.8 percent above the previous day’s close. In the case of the EVN titles, the price increase slowed down to 5.7 percent. At the same time, the Vienna Stock Exchange’s leading index, the ATX, was only 0.7 percent higher.
Source: Nachrichten
