Dong-A Socio Holdings announced on the 28th that it held the 76th Annual General Meeting of Shareholders at the new building in Yongdu-dong, Dongdaemun-gu, Seoul. At the subsequent board meeting, President Jeong Jae-hoon was reappointed as CEO.
At the general meeting, six agenda items were approved as originally proposed: ▲approval of the 76th financial statements and consolidated financial statements ▲partial amendment of the articles of incorporation ▲appointment of directors ▲appointment of outside directors as members of the audit committee ▲appointment of audit committee members ▲approval of the limit on directors’ remuneration. A cash dividend of 1,200 KRW per share was also approved. Payment will be made starting from the 18th of next month.
Dong-A Socio Holdings reported sales of 1.132 trillion KRW and an operating profit of 76.9 billion KRW based on consolidated financial statements last year. These figures represent increases of 11.5% and 103.2%, respectively, compared to the previous year. This is the highest performance since the transition to a holding company in 2013, marking two consecutive years of surpassing 1 trillion KRW in sales.
In his chairman’s greeting at the general meeting, CEO Jeong Jae-hoon said, “Despite the challenging business environment last year, we achieved record-high performance and took a step forward toward the 100th anniversary of the Dong-A Socio Group.” He added, “As a result of our management philosophy of fulfilling social responsibility and conducting ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) management activities, we achieved the remarkable feat of obtaining the AA rating from Morgan Stanley Capital International (MSCI), the first in the pharmaceutical industry.”
Regarding this year’s plans, CEO Jeong stated, “We will not only maximize sales of existing businesses but also discover new growth engines such as digital healthcare to expand our business areas.” He continued, “We will further strengthen a sustainable management system through non-financial growth.” He emphasized, “Based on the memory of Gaesinchangrae (開新創來), we will place assets to be preserved and values to be changed toward the 100-year future at the center of sustainable management. We will continue to take on challenges for growth with the courage not to fear failure.”
On shareholder-friendly policies, CEO Jeong said, “We have achieved the medium- to long-term shareholder return policy goals for 2021?2023 and will continue to pursue active shareholder return policies.” He added, “If there are remaining funds after dividends within the shareholder return scale, we plan to use them for share repurchases and cancellations.”
Dong-A Socio Holdings also announced a new medium- to long-term shareholder return policy for 2024?2026. Based on free cash flow from separate financial statements, more than 50% will be used as shareholder return funds. The existing interim dividend policy will be maintained, and over three years, cash dividends totaling 30 billion KRW will be paid, along with an annual stock dividend of 3%.
© The Asia Business Daily(www.asiae.co.kr). All rights reserved.
