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Fbc Holdings Limited’s dividend for the year ended December 2018 is 16 percent lower than what the financial services group paid prior year comparative. In a notice released yesterday, FBCH said it had declared a 0,9182 RTGS cents per share 16 percent less than the US1,07 it paid out prior year comparative.
The dividend is in respect of results for the financial year ended December 31, 2018 which are, however, yet to be released to the market.
Zimplow is another company that also announced the payment of a dividend before the release of the full set of results.
Delayed release of results
The Zimbabwe Stock Exchange extended the deadline for the release and publication of December 31, 2018 audited financial results from March 31 to April 30, 2019.
“Following the pronouncements of the monetary policies, in October 2018 and February 2019, there has been discussions around the reporting currency and the functional currency among the accounting profession. The market is expecting Public Accountants and Auditors Board (“PAAB”) to give guidance on this matter as Auditors are unable to sign-off accounts in the absence of guidance from PAAB.
“Due to the delay in release of the aforesaid guidance, the ZSE has observed that issuers with December year-ends are unable to release audited results by March 31, 2019 as required. As a result, the ZSE in consultation with the Securities and Exchange Commission of Zimbabwe (‘SECZ’) has granted a blanket waiver of one month for all affected issuers to publish their 2018 audited results.”
More ZSE companies paying dividends
So far, most companies that have reported their half-year or final year results to December 2018 have paid out dividends.
Analysts said companies were resorting to increased dividend pay-outs in order to utilise their huge cash piles which they are struggling to deploy into the productive sector.
The country’s crippling foreign currency situation has also forced companies to resort to paying out dividends than reinvest into the business.
“Companies are finding it hard to find better alternatives for their spare cash than to pay dividends. Sadly, the current economic environment does not allow businesses to redeploy profits as access to foreign currency has become a major albatross,” said Walter Mandeya of Trigrams Investments.
Bongani Ndlovu