5-Year Partial Incineration
Dividend Amendment Proposal Also Submitted
Samsung C&T has decided to cancel 1,295,411 of its treasury shares.
On the 17th, Samsung C&T held its regular shareholders' meeting at the Samsung Engineering Global Engineering Center in Gangdong-gu, Seoul, and announced that it had approved the agenda to cancel all treasury shares worth 150 billion KRW.
This treasury share cancellation follows Samsung C&T's previously announced "2023-2025 shareholder return policy." Samsung C&T plans to cancel all treasury shares worth 3 trillion KRW over the next five years as part of its shareholder return policy. The company aims to enhance shareholder value through this measure.
Samsung C&T currently holds 24,718,099 common shares (13.2%) and 159,835 preferred shares (9.8%) as treasury shares. The scale and timing of the annual cancellations will be separately determined by the board of directors each year. Accordingly, at this shareholders' meeting, it was decided to cancel 1.29 million shares (worth approximately 150 billion KRW) this time.
Samsung C&T held the '59th Annual General Meeting of Shareholders' on the 17th at the Samsung Engineering Global Engineering Center in Gangdong-gu, Seoul. [Photo by Samsung C&T]
The treasury shares to be canceled as decided at the shareholders' meeting are all the shares of Ilseong Pharmaceutical, which exercised its stock purchase rights opposing the Samsung C&T-Cheil Industries merger. Samsung C&T acquired these shares in April last year.
The par value per share is 100 KRW, and the scheduled cancellation date is the 21st of next month. Following the treasury share cancellation, the total number of Samsung C&T's issued shares will decrease to 185,591,670 shares.
Ko Kyung-seok, President of Samsung C&T, said, "We expect a shareholder return effect of about 5% annually of the market capitalization through dividends and treasury share cancellations combined," adding, "We promise to do our best to enhance shareholder value."
During the shareholders' meeting, small shareholders also raised questions criticizing the sluggish stock price and dividend amounts. One shareholder said, "Since the Samsung C&T-Cheil Industries merger, the stock price has nearly halved," and added, "The dividend amount has also decreased compared to the previous year." In response, President Ko said, "After the merger, the business environment deteriorated due to the global oil price surge and the spread of protectionism, causing difficulties across all business sectors," and apologized for not meeting shareholders' expectations. Regarding the dividend policy, he explained, "We will maintain a dividend policy that returns 60-70% of dividend income from affiliates."
Regarding the listing plan of its subsidiary Samsung Bioepis, the company stated that there is "no plan." Kim Hyung-jun, Vice President of Samsung Bioepis, responded to questions about the listing by saying, "A few years ago, we pursued overseas listing, but it is not currently in progress," and added, "At present, there are no plans for listing."
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