Shareholders of Komerční Banka (KB) have approved the proposal of the Board of Directors to pay dividends from retained earnings of CZK 10.55 billion, i.e., CZK 55.50 per share before tax. The bank said the vote was held per roll, i.e., not by the board. Shareholders who own shares in the bank as of November 30 will be entitled to the dividend. It will be due on December 22 this year.
Shareholders holding 78.2 percent of the votes voted in favor of the dividend. Shareholders owning 21.8 percent of the stock voted no. According to the bank, the reason for paying the premium is its intention to comply with its standard dividend policy, i.e., paying out 60 to 70 percent of its annual net profit, which was suspended in line with restrictions adopted by the regulator against all Czech banks in March 2020 following the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.
KB has received a statement from the Czech National Bank that it has no objections to the proposed payment of retained earnings.
Komerční banka’s general meeting decided this April to pay a dividend from last year’s profit, or CZK 43.80 per share before tax. Last April, the bank’s shareholders chose not to pay a premium from the previous year’s gain in line with the pandemic restrictions imposed on all Czech banks by the ČNB, and the entire profit was transferred to the retained earnings account of previous years.
In November 2021, the bank’s general meeting approved in writing to pay of a dividend of CZK 4.535 billion, or CZK 23.86 per share, from retained earnings for 2019 and 2020.
In early November, the House approved a tax on extraordinary profits from January 2023 for three years for companies, specifically in the banking, energy, petroleum, and fossil fuel extraction sectors. The special tax will operate as a 60 percent surtax applied to the excess profits of these companies, determined as the difference between the tax base and the average cost of the tax base over the past four years, plus 20 percent.
Commercial Bank’s net profit rose 56 percent last year. Total revenues improved by 5.7 percent to CZK 31.3 billion. Total operating expenses increased 0.7 percent to CZK 15.1 billion.
As of June 30, 2022, Komerční Banka had 64,384 shareholders (up 6,533 years over a year), of which 58,349 were individuals from the Czech Republic (up 6,203). The share of the strategic shareholder, Société Générale Bank, remained unchanged at 60.4 percent. Minority shareholders held 39 percent, and KB had 0.6 percent of its shares.