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Sberbank Pays Shareholders 10%
The Sberbank supervisory board yesterday released the unaudited financial results for 2007 and approved the size of the dividend. Events occurring after the report date were taken into account. According to the report, the bank's net profit was up 32.8 percent for the year, to 116.7 billion rubles. As last year, the bank plans to spend 10 percent of that sum on shareholder dividends. Thus, the income on a single Sberbank stock is no more than 0.6-0.7 percent, and the investor who spent 89,000 rubles to buy a share in Sberbank during its SPO (that was the cost of a single share) will receive a dividend of 510 rubles. Bank president German Gref said the final decision on the size of the dividend will be made at the shareholders meeting.
The data released yesterday conformed to analysts' and the bank's own forecast and did not cause a reaction on the market. The bank has made a preliminary estimate of its net profit at 115 billion rubles in January. Against the background of the world financial crisis, the fact that Sberbank did not lower its dividend proportionally was seen as a sign of confidence and wellbeing. The price of Sberbank common stock rose 2.43 percent yesterday to close at 74.58 rubles per share, while the MICEX index rose 1.63 percent.
Analysts note, however, that, if not for the liquidity crisis, Sberbank could have paid more, 15 percent of its net profit, for example, to investors. In 2006, the government recommended the bank pay 20 percent of its net profit in dividends and Gref, then minister of economic development and trade, called the 20-percent level “a certain reference point for state companies.” Sberbank stock has fallen 16.2 percent in price since it was placed on the market.
www.kommersant.com
All the Article in Russian as of Mar. 19, 2008
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Photo: Иван Гранкин
