Romanian nuclear power producer proposes slightly lower dividends despite higher profit

Romanian state-controlled nuclear power producer Nuclearelectrica (SNN) wants to pay dividends worth RON 472 mln (EUR 97 mln) to its shareholders from last year’s net profit.

The proposed gross dividend per share is RON 1.565 and the dividend yield is 6.3% based on Monday’s closing price of RON 24.65 per share.

The proposed dividend is 5% lower than last year (RON 1.653 per share) although the company’s net profit went up by 28% in 2020, to RON 685 mln (EUR 140 mln), according to its preliminary report.

The company’s management probably wants to keep more money to finance the future investments, which include refurbishing the first reactor of the Cernavoda nuclear power plant and building reactors three and four. The Romanian state holds 82.5% of Nuclearelectrica’s shares.

The SNN share price went up 38% since the beginning of this year and doubled in the last 12 months, due to the company’s positive results. Nuclearelectrica now has a market capitalization of RON 7.43 bln (EUR 1.52 bln).

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