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Chemrez Technologies Inc. has allocated more than a third of the
company’s earnings to double shareholders cash bonus for the year,
the firm disclosed to the Philippine Stock Exchange.
ChemrezTech Chief Finance Officer Francis A.
Caluag reported that the firm will issue a regular cash dividend of
P0.06 per share and a special cash dividend at P0.06 per share for a
total of P0.12 per share.
The ChemrezTech official said this year’s cash
bonus is double that of 2007 which consisted of a regular cash
dividend of P0.02 per share and a special cash dividend of P0.04 per
share.
This year’s cash dividends as declared by the
firm’s board of directors totaled P160 million, roughly 33 percent
of the company’s 2007 net income of P480.6 million. All
stockholders of record of ChemrezTech as of June 27, 2008 are
entitled to the cash dividend, which will be paid on July 23, 2008.
ChemrezTech’s board has consistently been
declaring cash and stock dividends since 2001. PSE records show,
ChemrezTech’s dividend payout ratio amounted to 63.4 percent based
on weighted earnings per share last year, 72.2 percent in 2006 and
41.8 percent in 2005.
“This reflects the company’s growing
profitability despite challenging times,” Caluag said, adding that
“while we do not have a set dividend policy, ChemrezTech is
committed to pay dividends whenever it is making money.”
Caluag added that this year’s payout is based
on earnings that do not yet reflect the full-year impact of
ChemrezTech’s substantial entry into the wholesale biodiesel
market following the implementation of the Biofuels Act in May 2007.
ChemrezTech announced its audited consolidated
net earnings after tax for 2007 reached P480.6 million, 409-percent
higher or five times the P94.4 million earned in 2006.
The company expects to post significant growth
in 2009 when the mandated biodiesel blend is increased to 2
percent—effectively doubling demand in the domestic market alone.
For the first five months of 2008 alone when the
mandated blend was still at one percent, ChemrezTech’s unaudited
figures show that consolidated sale jumped 53 percent to P1.92
billion from the P1.26 billion recorded in January to May last year.
ChemrezTech is primarily engaged in the
production of bio-petroleum, resins, oleochemicals, and powder
coatings. The company supplies local oil firms substantial amount of
biodiesel.
-- Euan Paulo C. Añonuevo
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