GPG announces scrip alternative for dividend, still no word on returning value

Guinness Peat Group, the investment company chaired by Ron Brierley, has announced its scrip dividend alternative, though there’s still no word on how it will go about rebuilding shareholder value.  

GPG shareholders can forgo their 1 pence a share cash dividend in favour of a 1-for-35 share issue, the London-based company said in a statement to the NZX today. That’s a smaller potential issue than last year’s 1-for-25 offer, though still larger than the 1-for-60 and 1-for-80 in 2007 and 2006 respectively.  

Investors are waiting to hear the company’s plan to return value after Brierley said it was the company’s top priority for the next two months. A detailed announcement is expected before the annual meeting on May 7.  

The shares sank 1.2% to 85 cents on the NZX today.  

Earlier this month, the company reported a net loss of 38 million pounds, or 2.25 pence a share, for the 12 months ended December 31, compared to a loss of 50 million pounds, or 3.24 pence, in 2008.  

Businesswire.co.nz

Comments from our readers

No comments yet

Add your comment:

Your name:
Your email:	Not displayed to the public
Comment:
Comments to Sharechat go through an approval process. Comments which are defamatory, abusive or in some way deemed inappropriate will not be approved. It is allowable to use some form of non-de-plume for your name, however we recommend real email addresses are used. Comments from free email addresses such as Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail, etc may not be approved.

Anti-spam verification:

Type the text you see in the image into the field below. You are asked to do this in order to verify that this enquiry is not being performed by an automated process.

Related News:

GPG still wrangling UK pension liability, Coats 1H earnings more than doubles
Guinness Peat completes $1.4 billion in asset sales, turns focus to Coats
Guinness Peat exits last asset outside Coats, sells Tower stake for $118 mln
GPG focuses on cost cutting as restructuring plan is delayed by UK pensions regulator
GPG names new non-executive chairman of Coats
GPG says UK regulator extends investigation into its pension schemes
GPG pension headache puts brake on wind-down plan
GPG sells stake in ASX-listed Ridley Corp for A$54 mln in cash
GPG to reap 92 mln pounds from latest round of asset sales
GPG thrown curved ball as UK regulator looks at Coats pension plan