Yesterday CEZ shares traded lower by as much as 6.6% intraday following the Industry Minister’s comments that CEZ may buy 16% of its own shares from the state (which controls 67.6% of the company). Minister M. Urban added that the issue will be debated at the upcoming GM to be held on January 21. We spoke to CEZ earlier and were told that CEZ may buy the stake and sell it later for a profit. This may suggest that the company is confident in its future performance. However, later in the day the company issued an official statement saying it was aware that the government is considering several ways of selling the 16% stake. Should the government allow CEZ to buy the stake, the company will evaluate the transaction from the point of view of its shareholders. No further details were disclosed.
Separately, Deputy Industry Minister Martin Pecina said that CEZ should not increase its dividend or, even better, pay no dividend at all but use all the cash for foreign expansion. However, his viewpoint contrasts with the FinMin, which wants dividends from CEZ. The company said in a conference call for its 9M2004 results that it plans to linearly increase dividend payments from the current CZK 8 / share to CZK 12 /share by 2006/2007.