September 25 (SeeNews) - Croatian hotel operator Valamar Riviera [ZSE:RIVP-R-A] said it will skip the payment of dividend and retain its entire 363 million kuna ($56 million/48 million euro) net profit reported for 2019.
The company's shareholders adopted the decision on September 24, aiming to strengthen the group's financial positions amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, Valamar said in a statement on Thursday.
In March, the company cancelled a meeting of shareholders who were supposed to vote on a proposed dividend payment of 1.20 kuna per share from its retained profit achieved in 2016 and 2017. The proposed dividend was up 0.20 kuna on last year's dividend payout.
Valamar's consolidated net profit increased by 27.9% to 305.9 million kuna in 2019, which was its best business year so far.
The hotel operator owns five brands: Valamar Collection, Valamar Collection Resorts, Valamar Hotels and Resorts, Sunny and Camping Adriatic. Valamar Riviera operates 37 hotels and resorts and 15 camping resorts in several attractive destinations along the Adriatic coast – from Istria and the islands of Krk and Rab to Dubrovnik.
Valamar's shares closed down 0.82% at 24.10 kuna on the Zagred bourse on Thursday. They did not trade at opening on Friday.
(1 euro = 7.5503 kuna)