Top dividends of listed companies: yields start from 7% downwards

BRD, Alro and Transgaz are disbursing the highest dividends on the Bucharest Stock Exchange, but the best yields rest with Aerostar, Bermas and Santierul Naval Orsova. SIF Oltenia may win the race at the last moment should its shareholders approve the doubling of the dividend proposed by its management. Most companies listed on the Bucharest Stock Exchange decided to allot a smaller slice of profit for shareholders' dividends, both because of the falling incomes reported last year and of the cash flow problems they are experiencing during this period because of clients' payment delays. The total value of dividends due to be disbursed by companies listed on the Bucharest Stock Exchange this year amounts to 685m RON (167.9m euros), 36% below the value of dividends companies granted in 2009 and way below the record high reached in 2007, of 2.3bn RON (650m euros). Petrom, the biggest domestic company listed on the Bucharest Stock Exchange, suspended dividend payment starting 2008, preferring to invest the money in its own business. Dividend yields calculated on the basis of current market prices are lower even than the interest rate banks offer for one-year deposits, of 7.5%-8%, so that dividends are no longer playing a major role in investors' stock choices.