August 16 (SeeNews) - Bulgarian financial leasing company Elana Agrocredit [BUL:EAC] said it signed deals to finance purchases of agricultural land worth 432,346 levs ($224,000/221,100 euro) in July, a sharp increase from 262,680 levs in the same month of 2021.
Elana Agrocredit financed the purchase of 26.1 ha of land last month, compared to roughly 21 ha in July 2021, the company said in a monthly report on Monday. It agreed ten deals for financing purchases of farmland in the period under review.
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Also in July, Elana Agrocredit paid to its shareholders an annual gross dividend of 0.067 levs per share for last year, it added.
The financial leasing company had earlier proposed a total dividend of 2.45 million levs for 2021, or 5% less than the shareholder payout in 2021.
The company typically finances 80% of the value of land purchases, with agricultural land making up over 91% of its portfolio. For the 2021-2022 crop year, Elana Agrocredit has so far approved loans to clients of some 18.6 million levs in total.
Shares in Elana Agrocredit traded flat at 1.02 levs as at 1134 CEST on Tuesday.
(1 euro = 1.95583 levs)