Foreign Property News | Posted by Si Thu Aung
China’s third-richest man is about to add RMB 14.6 billion ($2.1 billion) to his personal fortune after China Evergrande Group proposed its dividend for the 2018 financial year in an announcement on the Hong Kong stock exchange on Sunday.
The mainland’s second-largest developer by sales proposes to pay out half of its 2018 profits, which totalled RMB 37.4 billion, as dividends to shareholders and with chairman Xu Jiayin holding a 78 percent stake in the Shenzhen-headquartered developer the billionaire is set for a windfall.
The payout comes after China Evergrande’s group revenues rose to RMB 466.2 billion in 2018 – a nearly 50 percent increase over the previous year – with profit attributable to shareholders jumping over 53 percent last year from 2017’s RMB 24.4 billion after home sales income boomed in the first half of 2018.
The proposed payout of RMB 18.7 billion is in line with Evergrande’s tradition of distributing half of its annual profit to shareholders via dividends, with the board proposal subject to approval from shareholders at an extraordinary general meeting to be held 15 January next year.
The announcement of Evergrande’s 2018 dividend had been delayed twice this year as the company continues to pursue a domestic listing in mainland China.
The dividend news was welcomed by investors with shares in Evergrande rising from HK$19.98 at the start of trading in Hong Kong today to reach as high as HK$20.45 in morning trading.
Ref: Property Report
