Inarctica board recommends 2023 dividend of 10 rubles per share

MOSCOW. April 22 (Interfax) - Directors at PJSC Inarctica , Russia's leading producer of Atlantic salmon and trout, have recommended a final dividend of 10 rubles per share for 2023, the company said in a statement.

Thee payout could be 879 million rubles.

The proposed dividend record date is July 8.

"Inarctica has already paid record dividends of 3.95 billion rubles for three quarters of 2023. Given the recommendation, overall dividend payments for the whole of 2023 could be 4.85 billion rubles or 55 rubles per share," the company said.

The dividends will be put to the vote at the AGM, to be held in absentia on June 27.

The company last year paid dividends for Q1 2023 at 10 rubles per share, for H1 2023 at 16 rubles per share and for 9M 2023 at 19 rubles per share.

The company approved its dividend policy in 2019 without setting a target level for payments. Restrictions include the net debt/EBITDA ratio not exceeding 3.5x.

Inarctica first paid dividends in 2020, at 5 rubles per share or 439.4 million rubles in total the first half of that year. The company also paid a final dividend of 5 rubles per share for 2020. It paid 4 rubles per share or 351.5 million rubles for Q1 2021, and the same amount for the first half and nine months of that year. Inarctica did not declare a dividend for 2021. Dividends of 15 rubles per share were approved for H1 2022 and 15 rubles for 9M 2022, but there was no final dividend for 2022.

The company has 87,876,649 issued shares with par value of 100 rubles each. Its biggest shareholders Svinin & Partners Management Company LLC with 24.9% and Maxim Vorobyov with 22%. CEO Ilya Sosnov owns 2.1% outright and his IGS Invest owns 17.2%.

Inarctica boosted sales revenue 21% to 28.5 billion rubles, gross profit 38%, to 21.2 billion rubles and net profit 27%, to 15.5 billion rubles in 2023, while the adjusted EBITDA figure was level with a year previously at 12.9 billion rubles and the adjusted EBITDA margin was 45% compared with 55% a year earlier.

The company sold 28,200 tonnes of fish in 2023, up 10% from 2022.