Nan Ya Plastics Corp’s (南亞塑膠) board of directors approved a proposed a cash dividend of NT$7.5, more than 200 percent higher than the previous year, the company said on Friday in a stock exchange filing.
If approved by shareholders on June 10, the proposal would be 212.5 percent higher than the NT$2.4 dividend Nan Ya paid the previous year.
With Nan Ya’s stock price closing at NT$89.8 on Friday, the proposed cash dividend translates into a dividend yield of 8.35 percent.
Photo courtesy of the New Taipei City Government
That would be higher than the interest rates on fixed-term deposits offered by local banks and marks the highest among Formosa Plastics Group’s (台塑集團) four major units, which also include Formosa Plastics Corp (台塑), Formosa Petrochemical Corp (台塑石化) and Formosa Chemicals & Fibre Corp (台灣化纖).
Nan Ya, which manufactures plastic, fiber, electronic and petrochemical products, announced the better-than-expected dividend payout as the company’s net profit last year surged 216.21 percent year-on-year to NT$81.295 billion (US$2.86 billion), or earnings per share of NT$10.25, thanks to robust revenue from its chemical business and continued contribution from DRAM chipmaker Nanya Technology Corp (南亞科技).
Nan Ya’s operating profit soared 281.72 percent year-on-year to NT$81 billion, while revenue increased 50.6 percent to NT$411.67 billion last year, the company said.
The company’s three major affiliates earlier announced their cash dividend plans, with Formosa Plastics on Thursday saying it would distribute NT$8.2 per share, while Formosa Chemicals on Wednesday said it would pay out NT$4.8 per share and Formosa Petrochemical on Tuesday said it proposed to pay NT$3.8 per share.
Their planned dividends represent yields of 7.7 percent for Formosa Plastics, 6.06 percent for Formosa Chemicals and 3.97 percent for Formosa Petrochemical, based on their respective closing stock price of NT$106.5, NT$79.2 and NT$95.7 on Friday.
Based on the four major units’ dividend plans, Nan Ya would pay NT$59.48 billion in cash dividends to shareholders this year, Formosa Plastics would distribute NT$52.199 billion, Formosa Chemicals would offer NT$28.13 billion and Formosa Petrochemical would spend NT$36.198 billion on cash dividends, their regulatory filings showed.
Nan Ya said in a separate exchange filing on Friday that its board also approved a NT$950 million investment plan to add equipment for producing blood bags and leukocyte reduction filter systems at its plant in New Taipei City’s Shulin District (樹林).
The plan reflects an expected trend of comprehensive depletion of leukocytes from blood, Nan Ya said, adding that Taiwan imports all of its blood bags, as it does not have the ability to make them.
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