Biggest stake on the Bourse: over 2.4bn lei worth of dividends

Bourse companies' shareholders this week are discussing the disbursement of dividends from last year's profits, with over 2.4bn lei (580m euros) being at stake.

The previous record was set in 2008, when companies disbursed dividends worth around 2.4bn lei from profits generated in 2007.

Ten of the largest companies listed on the BSE have general shareholder meetings scheduled for this week, with the agenda including approving the disbursement of dividends from 2010 profits. The managers of the ten companies proposed total dividends worth 2.03bn lei (494m euros) to shareholders.

Dividends have been gaining importance in analyses carried out by investors and in the yields they get, as stock increases are no longer as significant as in previous years.

For the first time in recent years, some of these companies' shareholders have asked for and obtained the introduction on the agenda of some proposals to boost dividends by a total 335m lei (81m euros). Thus, should all dividend increase proposals be approved, the total sum distributed to shareholders would climb to 2.36bn lei (575m euros).

The biggest stake is with Fondul Proprietatea (FP), where Franklin Templeton US manager proposed 216m lei in dividends, and the Finance Ministry, which owns 36% in stock, asked for the sum to be doubled to 432m lei. The outcome will be found out on Wednesday. If the Ministry's proposal is approved, FP dividend yield would climb to 5.4%.