Petrom shareholders may get RON1.9 billion to RON2.4 billion as dividends, depending on how much of its profit the company decides to allocate, according to ZF calculations taking into account the payouts of the last few years and analysts’ expectations.
Last year, Petrom allocated 41% of its 2012 profit to dividends and in the previous year it had paid 47% of the net profit as dividends.
“I think Petrom will go along the same lines in terms of dividends, maybe slightly better. Investor expectations are that dividends will go up compared with last year in sync with the profit growth,” commented Mihai Muresian, trading manager of brokerage firm Intercapital Invest.
Some also say that Petrom will increase payout in order to finance the higher dividends that its majority owner, Austria’s OMV, will pay to its own shareholders this year. OMV announced in February that dividends would reach EUR1.25/share, 4% higher than in 2013, even though its net profit fell 15% to EUR1.16 billion last year. OMV’s dividends will amount to about EUR409 million.
“Considering the dividend proposed by OMV, why should we not see a higher payout at Petrom, too? We need to bear in mind that a 5% growth means several hundred million lei for shareholders, and implicitly higher yields,” a broker commented.
At a 41% payout as last year, Petrom’s dividends should amount to about RON2 billion, and the gross dividend per share would be RON0.035 or a 8% profit for investors calculated at the stock market price on Monday, RON0.4379/share. In other words, whoever buys Petrom shares now can expect to make more than double the bank interest for a one year.
A 5% increase in payout would add another RON241 million to the dividends investors will get, or RON0.0042/share, driving the yield up to 9%. At a 50% payout, the dividends would reach RON2.4 billion and the yield would come close to 10%. The latter scenario seems unlikely, considering Petrom announced a EUR1 billion investment program this year, after having invested EUR1.2 billion in 2013.
Investors will find out how much of its profit Petrom allocated for payout in two weeks, when the company publishes the call to the general meeting of shareholders, scheduled for April 29. (EUR1=RON4.4996)
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)