The Industry Ministry yesterday abandoned a plan to swap a stake of less than 16% in CEZ (Industry Minister M. Urban indicated earlier that the stake would be around 3%) for a controlling stake in Slovenske elektrarne (SE), the dominant Slovak power producer. The Cabinet is now considering either keeping its 67.7% stake in CEZ or divesting a 16% stake on the capital market. (Bloomberg)
We believe the swap was not considered by the market to be a realistic scenario. The possible placement of the 16% has already been discussed for several months with no conclusion so far.
Separately, CEZ may increase its dividend payments by about 50% in the coming years, Bloomberg reported yesterday. The company can reportedly afford to pay out CZK 4bn a year without curbing expansion or development implying a dividend of CZK 6.75 per share (CZK 4.5 this year). Based on previous indications from the management, we actually expected the 2004 dividend could reach as much as CZK 10.0 per share.
Jitka Oppitzová