The Ministry of Finance announced yesterday that the National Property Fund may propose a dividend payment out of Cesky Telecom’s 2000 net profit. If proposed and approved at Cesky Telecom’s annual general meeting, the dividend would be a suitable way of increasing Cesky Telecom’s unnecessarily low financial leverage (the total debt-to-capital ratio based on book values currently amounts to only 35%). If the payout ratio amounted to 100%, the gross dividend would be approximately CZK 20 per share. Nevertheless, the ministry did provide any further information regarding a dividend, and the general nature of announcement is unlikely to move the stock.
(Jiří Soustružník)