Integrated Celltrion Declares 500 Won Cash Dividend Per Share... Pharmaceutical Sector Also Announces Stock Dividend

Celltrion, which will be merged on the 28th, has decided on a cash dividend of 500 KRW per share. Celltrion Pharm will also distribute a stock dividend of 0.05 shares per share, as the Celltrion Group plans to actively implement shareholder return policies.

On the 13th, the Celltrion Group's board of directors decided on the dividends for Celltrion and Celltrion Pharm, respectively.

First, Celltrion, which will be merged on the 28th, will pay a total cash dividend of 103.69192 billion KRW at 500 KRW per common share. Since the dividend record date is the 31st, shareholders of Celltrion Healthcare will also receive dividends as shareholders of the merged Celltrion with new shares. The actual dividend-eligible shares are expected to be 207.38 million shares, excluding 12.91 million treasury shares from the total issued shares of 220.29 million of the merged corporation.

Celltrion explained that this year it focused on cash dividends instead of stock dividends to avoid dilution of stock value, while increasing the total cash dividend amount to about 100 billion KRW compared to 71.8 billion KRW last year. The company plans to further strengthen shareholder return policies by raising cash dividends up to about 30% of profits after deducting capital expenditures (CAPEX) from earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA).

Before deciding on stock dividends, Celltrion and Celltrion Healthcare conducted a total buyback of treasury shares worth 1.25 trillion KRW this year to enhance shareholder value. In particular, since dividends will not be paid on the 12.91 million treasury shares, the corresponding dividend amount will be reinvested, providing shareholders with a dividend effect exceeding 500 KRW per share.

Including this dividend decision, Celltrion's shareholder return ratio?calculated by dividing cash dividends and treasury share buybacks by net income?is estimated to reach 163.3%. The company emphasized that this far exceeds the average of 54.7% for the top 10 KOSPI companies last year. The shareholder return ratio is an indicator showing the proportion of annual corporate earnings returned to shareholders and is used as a measure of shareholder-friendly policies.

Seo Jung-jin, Chairman of Celltrion, is speaking at the Celltrion Group 2023 press conference held last October at Park One Tower in Yeouido-dong, Yeongdeungpo-gu, Seoul. Photo by Hyunmin Kim kimhyun81@

Going forward, the merged Celltrion plans to maximize sales and profits through the expected effects of the merger and gradually expand dividends. Next month, it will also conduct a treasury share cancellation worth approximately 423.6 billion KRW (2.31 million shares), which is expected to result in an actual dividend effect of about 1.0% due to the reduction in total issued shares.

Meanwhile, Celltrion Pharm plans to distribute a stock dividend of 0.05 shares per common share, considering growth potential and cash flow. The total number of dividend shares issued will be about 1.972 million shares (168.8 billion KRW). This dividend value has increased by approximately 43.1 billion KRW compared to the previous year.

The dividends and dividend shares of both companies will be finalized at next year's regular shareholders' meeting and paid within one month thereafter.

A Celltrion Group official said, “This dividend was decided based on the principle of enhancing shareholder value by sharing profits with shareholders who supported the company's growth, considering each company's situation. As the newly integrated Celltrion launches at the end of the year, we will do our best to maximize corporate value and global market performance, strengthen profit sharing with shareholders, and achieve mutual growth.”

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