BUCHAREST (Romania), July 20 (SeeNews) – Majority state-owned Romanian hydro power producer Hidroelectrica said on Thursday it will distribute 1.04 billion lei ($263 million/228 million euro) as dividend for 2016.
Last year, Hidroelectrica distributed dividend of 675 million lei for 2015.
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The beneficiaries of the 2016 dividend payout will be Hidroelectrica's two shareholders, the company said in a press release.
The government owns 80.06% of Hidroelectrica through the energy ministry. Investment fund Fondul Proprietatea [BSE:FP] owns the remainder.
In June, the company said that its gross profit jumped by an annual 26% to 744 million lei in the first five months of the year.
Electricity production during January-May was approximately 6.5 TWh, down from 7 TWh achieved in the same period of 2016.
The company posted a turnover of 1.436 billion lei in the five months through May, up 11% on the year.
At the beginning of April, Hidroelectrica exited insolvency, paving the way for a long awaited listing on the Bucharest Stock Exchange seen as the biggest in Romania's history.
The initial public offering (IPO) of a 15% stake in Hidroelectrica is expected to raise 1 billion euro ($1.06 million), the court-appointed administrator of the company has said.
During 2013-2016, Hidroelectrica reported a cumulative profit of 1 billion euro and annual earnings before Interest, depreciation, and amortization of 500 million euro. During the five-year long period of insolvency proceedings, the market value of the company was doubled - from 2 billion euro in 2012 to 4 billion euro in 2016, data from its judicial administrator Euro Insol showed.
In 2016, Hidroelectrica's gross profit rose 36% year-on-year, reaching 1.5 billion lei.
Government plans to dual-list a 15% stake in Hidroelectrica on the Bucharest Stock Exchange and the London Stock Exchange have been repeatedly delayed as insolvency proceedings were taking longer than expected, despite the company's strong financial recovery.
Hidroelectrica operates more than 207 hydro power plants with a combined installed capacity of over 6,432 MW.
Shares of Fondul Proprietatea were traded 0.11% higher at 0.8710 lei on the Bucharest Stock Exchange at 0950 CET on Thursday.
(1 euro=4.5680 lei)
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