One of the ways that listed companies ensure that they have the continued support of key stakeholders such as investors in the company is by maintaining regular dividend payments. It is the desire of every investor to realize a return on investment over the investment horizon. This is why during its 78th meeting held on 29 March 2018, the ZCCM-IH Board amended the Company Dividend Policy.
“The ZCCM-IH Policy now states that the Company may pay a minimum of 35% of the unconsolidated Net Profit after Tax (NPAT) for any financial year in which a positive unconsolidated NPAT was recorded”, read a statement in their new 2020 to 2026 strategic document.
Over the past two years of implementing its 2018-2023 strategic plan, ZCCM IH made some notable achievements which included consistent dividend pay-outs to shareholders. Since the 2015 financial year, the group has paid approximately K537 million to shareholders as dividends. Except for 2016, investors were paid a dividend every year as shown in the table below.
Astute investors who have read the new strategic plan will notice that ZCCM IH has also included a strategy towards capital gains. They intend to generate greater shareholder value by ensuring price discovery on our stock exchange listings.
According to Investopedia, “Price discovery is the overall process, whether explicit or inferred, of setting the spot price or the proper price of an asset, security, commodity, or currency. The process of price discovery looks at a number of tangible and intangible factors, including supply and demand, investor risk attitudes, and the overall economic and geopolitical environment.”
Market development being one of the key factors that influences price discovery, ZCCM IH will be turning to its listings on the London Stock Exchange and Euronext to achieve this. These are more mature stock exchanges compared to the developing Lusaka Stock Exchange. They will look intently at ZCCM IH’s projections to invest circa USD2.69 billion in the selected sectors in the Strategic Plan period. An investment hypothesis viewing the investment horizon through such as lens will note that it is highly probable for a consistent dividend to be maintained.
Source : http://fizambia.com/?p=10036