Official: Russia yet to decide on state companies’ dividends

MOSCOW, Apr 13 (PRIME) -- The Russian government has not yet made a final decision on company dividends, but aims at the maximum payment of 50% of a net profit unless a company has a serious reason for a smaller payment, First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov told reporters late on Wednesday.

“We have not made a unified decision on dividends yet. We are steering companies to the idea that they must pay the maximum amount of dividends. It is good for investors and it shows investment attractiveness prompting share purchases,” he said.

The government will work out proposals thoroughly and submit them to President Vladimir Putin.

“Proposals say that we should take the maximum 50% from everyone who can give as much. If it is impossible, then there has to be a serious reason for that and there has to be a difficult procedure of making a different decision,” he said.

In 2016, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev signed a one-time ruling that a state company must take the highest figure of its net profit – under Russian Accounting Standards or International Financial Reporting Standards – and allocate no less than 50% of the net profit for 2015 dividends. The Finance Ministry wants to make the ruling permanent.

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