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| ČEZ reshuffles supervisory board in political power play, pays out ‘disappointing’ dividend |
| Prag, 28.06.2018 |
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| The annual general meeting of state-controlled power producer ČEZ proved to be a contentious one, lasting a record 14 hours and into the wee hours of Saturday. In the end, it saw the ouster of three ČEZ supervisory board members, including its chairman, in a political power play. The AGM also agreed on a dividend pay-out which fell short of demands by some influential minority shareholders.
Before being named chairman of ČEZ’s 12-member supervisory board, respected scientist Václav Pačes headed a government commission tasked with formulating a long-term energy strategy. But when a new government comes to power, heads tend to roll at the energy giant, of which the Czech state is ČEZ’s majority owner.
Prime Minister-designate Adrej Babiš wants to install supervisory board members who share his views on what ČEZ’s priorities should be, and his politics. Mr Pačes was appointed when Mr. Babiš was finance minister and his ANO party a junior partner in a Social Democrat-led coalition government. Now the power balance has flipped, hence the reshuffling of the supervisory board to tilt more in his favour.
The other drama arising from ČEZ’s AGM centred on how big a dividend to pay out on 2017 profits. ČEZ’s management pushed through a CZK 33 per share dividend, the same as last year. Minority shareholders are angry that the value of their assets has not risen along with electricity prices, says energy sector analyst Michal Šnobr, who represents investors close to the powerful J&T group who control over 1% of ČEZ. A CZK 35 dividend would have been in order, Mr Šnobr says:
"For us, it would be a symbolic step, even if not an insignificant one – with ČEZ, a 2-crown difference in the dividend amounts to a billion crowns. But the main thing we’ve been pointing out is that apart from cash flow outlook, there are many key criteria for determining a dividend: for example, the amount of debt and respective interest rate. But as shareholders, above all we have not been satisfied with the management of ČEZ’s assets in recent years. The return on equity, its profitability, has declined steadily for eight years, dropping to a third its original value."
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Address : Euro-Brew Ltd., Hlboká 22, 917 01 Trnava, Slovakia
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