Hyosung ITX Accelerates Shareholder Returns with Quarterly Dividend System and More

[Asia Economy Reporter Hwang Yoon-joo] Hyosung's IT affiliate, Hyosung ITX, is strengthening its shareholder return policy.

On the 10th, Hyosung ITX announced that it will implement a quarterly dividend system starting this year and increase dividends by 30%. Along with this, it plans to enhance shareholder value through ▲share repurchases ▲activation of electronic voting system.

First, Hyosung ITX will implement quarterly dividends paid four times a year starting from the 2020 fiscal year. Quarterly dividends are evaluated to contribute to establishing a shareholder-centered management culture because dividends are paid quarterly compared to the once-a-year settlement dividend.

Hyosung ITX plans to pay 150 KRW per share three times a year through quarterly dividends and 200 KRW as a settlement dividend. In this case, the total dividend per share (DPS) will be 650 KRW, which is a 30% increase compared to the 500 KRW planned to be paid as the 2019 settlement dividend. The expected dividend yield is about 4.7% based on the final price of 13,900 KRW on the 9th.

They are also steadily repurchasing treasury shares. The average shareholder return ratio of Hyosung ITX over the past three years (the ratio of dividends and share repurchases to net income) reaches 70.1%. This is more than twice the average of listed companies at 31.5%, and the securities industry evaluates that the profit-sharing ratio with shareholders is very high.

They are actively encouraging shareholders to use the electronic voting system. Hyosung ITX introduced the electronic voting system in 2018 to guarantee voting rights for minority shareholders and increase attendance at shareholders' meetings. This year, despite external factors such as the spread of the novel coronavirus, they produced a separate manual booklet for using the electronic voting system and distributed it along with proxy forms so that shareholders could exercise their shareholder rights.

CEO Nam Kyung-hwan said about this announcement, "This is to instill firm trust in the market regarding Hyosung ITX's business growth potential and commitment to enhancing shareholder value," and added, "We plan to continue an advanced shareholder return policy based on stable growth in contact center business, smart factory business, and others."

Meanwhile, Hyosung ITX is an IT solutions affiliate within the Hyosung Group, operating businesses such as contact centers serving as customer response channels, network infrastructure construction including cloud services, and sales of display equipment such as beam projectors. In 2019, on a consolidated basis, it achieved sales of 388.2 billion KRW, operating profit of 13 billion KRW, and net profit of 10.8 billion KRW, marking the highest performance since its founding in 1997 with a 15% increase in operating profit and 44% increase in net profit compared to the previous year.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.