Dong-A ST to Cancel 50% of Treasury Shares and Implement Reduced Dividends, Strengthening Shareholder Return Policy

Shareholder-Friendly Management Moves

Dong-A ST announced on the 23rd that its board of directors had met on the same day and resolved to cancel a portion of its treasury shares.

The company will cancel 84,058 shares, which is 50% of its treasury shares currently held. The planned cancellation amount is approximately 5.1 billion won, and the company plans to complete the cancellation by March 3. This resolution follows Dong-A ST's previous efforts to enhance shareholder value through improving transparency in its governance structure and providing cash and stock dividends, and aims to further increase per-share value and strengthen shareholder-friendly management through the cancellation of treasury shares.

Exterior view of the Dong-A ST office building in Dongdaemun-gu, Seoul. Dong-A ST

Together with the cancellation of treasury shares, the company is also pursuing a reduced dividend structure under which the 15.4% dividend income tax will not be imposed on ordinary shareholders.

To implement the reduced dividend, the company plans to secure dividend resources by submitting the agenda item titled "Reduction of Capital Reserves and Transfer to Retained Earnings for Reduced Dividend" at the 13th Annual General Meeting of Shareholders scheduled for March, and seeking its approval. If this agenda item is passed, shareholders will be able to receive dividends on a tax-exempt basis starting from the year-end dividend for the 2026 fiscal year.

In addition, the company plans to pay a cash dividend of 700 won per common share and a stock dividend of 0.05 share per common share. The record date for the dividend is March 11.

A Dong-A ST official said, "The company has continuously reviewed various shareholder return measures to enhance shareholder value," adding, "We will continue to work to strengthen trust with our shareholders and increase corporate value based on a stable financial structure."

Meanwhile, to strengthen transparency in its governance structure, Dong-A ST has formed its board of directors, the company's internal decision-making body, with a majority of outside directors, and has separated the roles of CEO and chair of the board so that an outside director serves as chair. In addition, the Evaluation and Compensation Committee and the Audit Committee, which are committees under the board, are composed entirely of outside directors, and the Outside Director Nomination Committee is operated with at least two-thirds of its members being outside directors.