Business / Companies
BAT Zimbabwe unit declares 100% dividend
28 Jul 2014 at 14:35hrs | Views
BAT Zimbabwe, the Zimbabwe unit of British American Tobacco, on Friday put a smile on its shareholders' faces after it declared a 100% dividend payout.
After recording basic earnings per share of 26 cents, BAT declared a dividend per share of 30c with the extra 4c coming from retained earnings from prior years.
The cigarette maker made a profit after tax of US$5.329m, all of which was paid out as a dividend.
The dividend payout must be a welcome development to indigenous Zimbabweans, who now own more than 26% of the shareholding of BAT Zimbabwe.
BAT started implementing the required indigenisation 51% threshold in 2012.
In a circular to shareholders released in 2012, BAT said it would meet 26% indigenous status by October 28 2012, 36% status by October 28 2013, 46% by October 28 2014 and 51% by October 28 2015.
Source - fin24
