Hindustan Zinc share price jumps 5% after announcement of 1300% dividend
2 min read 22 Mar 2023, 04:15 PM ISTThis takes the Anil Agarwal-led Hindustan Zinc's total payout to shareholders at a record ₹32,000 crore this fiscal, making it among the top-dividend payers in India
PremiumThe stock of Vedanta Group firm Hindustan Zinc Ltd soared 5 per cent to ₹325.2 in Wednesday's trade after HZL's board approved a fourth interim dividend of ₹26 per equity share or 1,300 per cent for FY2022-23 amounting to ₹10,985.83 crore.
"The board of directors of the company in its meeting held on March 21, 2023 have approved fourth interim dividend of ₹26 per equity share i.e. 1300 % on face value of ₹2 per share for the financial Year 2022-23 amounting to ₹10,985.83 crore," Hindustan Zinc said in a filing to BSE.
This takes the Anil Agarwal-led company's total payout to shareholders at a record ₹32,000 crore this fiscal, making it among the top-dividend payers in India.
The Udaipur-based Hindustan Zinc's has fixed 29 March, 2023, as the record date for determining the eligibility of shareholders for the proposed dividend.
The fourth interim dividend will be paid within stipulated timelines as prescribed under law, it said.
The said interim dividend will be paid to the shareholders whose names appear on the register of members of the company or in the records of the depositories as beneficial owners of the shares as on 29 March, the company said.
HZL said that it has declared its ever-highest dividend of ₹32,000 crore for FY'23 by announcing the fourth interim dividend.
The company has declared 39 dividends since 28 June, 2001. In the past 12 months, the company has declared an equity dividend amounting to ₹49.50 per share, according to Trendlyne data.
HZL, in which Vedanta holds a 64.92 per cent stake and has for long been unsuccessfully trying to buy back the residual government stake, is the largest and only integrated producer of zinc, lead and silver in the country.
The company operates the world's largest underground zinc mining operation at its Rampura Agucha mine in the Udaipur district of Rajasthan.
The government, which has a 29.54 per cent stake in HZL, recently opposed to Hindustan Zinc's proposed $2.98 billion acquisition of zinc assets from Vedanta Ltd as the Rajasthan-based company has long been a cash cow for oil-to-metals conglomerate, squeezing out rich dividends.
Further, the firm said that the board has noted the letter dated 17 February, 2023, received from the mines ministry.
In a letter dated 17 February to Hindustan Zinc, the mines ministry had opposed Vedanta's move to sell the zinc assets and had threatened to take legal action to stop the sale of Africa-based assets to HZL.
In a letter to HZL, posted by the company to stock exchanges, the ministry of mines had said the deal is a "related party transaction" and the government would "like to reiterate" its dissent.
The stock closed 2.25 per cent higher at ₹317.60. The shares have risen more than 14 per cent in the last six months.
