over 500 billion yuan, a-share mid-term dividend hits new high
2024-09-30
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"china economic weekly" reporter xie wei | reporting from beijing
during this year's a-share market interim report, investors received a wave of "red envelope rain."
wind data shows that in 2024, more than 670 a-share listed companies have disclosed mid-year dividend plans (including those that have been implemented), with a total dividend of more than 500 billion yuan, and the number of dividend-paying companies far exceeds the level of previous years. for comparison, from 2020 to 2023, 174, 186, 138, and 194 a-share listed companies implemented interim dividends respectively.
the "tide" of mid-term dividends for a-shares this year is inseparable from the strong encouragement and guidance at the policy level. the dividend awareness and level of dividends of listed companies have increased significantly.
a-share interim dividend hits record high
in terms of quantity, the number of listed companies announcing interim dividends and the total amount of dividends have reached record highs.
judging from the situation in the shanghai stock exchange, data from the shanghai stock exchange shows that mid-term dividends have ushered in a blowout period, with a total of 337 companies paying dividends, a year-on-year increase of 343%, and a total dividend amount of nearly 500 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 156%, of which the amount of dividends paid to domestic investors nearly 300 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 193%. more than 10 companies including china mobile, china petroleum, and ping an of china paid dividends exceeding 10 billion yuan.
judging from the situation in the shenzhen stock exchange, data provided by the shenzhen stock exchange shows that as of september 10, more than 310 companies in the shenzhen stock exchange have released semi-annual dividend plans for 2024, with a cumulative total of nearly 50 billion yuan in dividends declared. the number of dividend companies and the total amount were respectively significant growth of 246% and 186%, reaching a record high.
"the pace of implementation of mid-term dividends has been significantly accelerated, and investors have been able to share corporate growth dividends earlier." the relevant person in charge of the shenzhen stock exchange told a reporter from the china economic weekly that in the early stage, many companies in the shenzhen stock exchange authorized the board of directors to formulate specific regulations through the shareholders' meeting in accordance with the new dividend regulations. mid-term dividend plan, simplifying the mid-term dividend procedure and optimizing the dividend rhythm. as of september 10, 65 companies in the shenzhen stock exchange have issued announcements on the implementation of semi-annual equity distribution for 2024, involving more than 14 billion yuan in dividends, accounting for about 30% of the total announced dividends, and 60% of them have completed implementation.
dividends are intended to increase investor returns and enhance investor confidence, and are also inseparable from regulatory encouragement and guidance.
in recent years, the china securities regulatory commission has continuously strengthened the supervision of dividends of listed companies and improved the cash dividend system of listed companies. in april this year, the "several opinions of the state council on strengthening supervision, preventing risks and promoting high-quality development of the capital market" was officially issued, which is known as the new "nine national regulations" on the capital market.
the new "nine articles of the people's republic of china" clearly state that the supervision of cash dividends of listed companies will be strengthened. for companies that have not paid dividends for many years or have a low dividend ratio, major shareholders will be restricted from reducing their holdings and risk warnings will be implemented. increase incentives for high-quality dividend-paying companies and take multiple measures to increase dividend rates. enhance the stability, sustainability and predictability of dividends, and promote multiple dividends a year, pre-dividends, and dividends before the spring festival.
who are the “big shareholders” of dividends?
from an industry perspective, the "big dividend payers" of listed companies are mainly concentrated in banking, petroleum and petrochemical, biomedicine, communications and other industries.
the banking industry is a traditional large dividend payer. this year, the five major state-owned banks plan to pay more than 200 billion yuan in mid-term dividends. the planned dividend amounts of industrial and commercial bank of china, china construction bank, agricultural bank of china, bank of china and bank of communications are 51.109 billion yuan, 49.252 billion yuan, 40.738 billion yuan, 35.562 billion yuan and 13.516 billion yuan respectively. its dividend ratio (referring to the ratio of total dividends paid in the year to all net profits in the same year) is close to 30%.
traditional blue-chip stocks such as china mobile, china telecom, petrochina, sinopec, and cnooc continue to lead the way.
china mobile's total planned mid-term distribution amount is as high as 50.882 billion yuan. in the first half of this year, china mobile's operating income reached 546.744 billion yuan, and the net profit attributable to shareholders of the parent company was 80.201 billion yuan.
petrochina, cnooc, and sinopec plan to pay dividends of 40.265 billion yuan, 32.139 billion yuan, and 17.768 billion yuan respectively.
four a-share listed insurance companies plan to distribute interim dividends of approximately 27 billion yuan. ping an of china, china life, picc, and new china insurance plan to distribute cash dividends of approximately 16.84 billion yuan, 5.653 billion yuan, 2.786 billion yuan, and 1.685 billion yuan respectively.
there are also many boss companies that are launching mid-term dividend plans for the first time. in april this year, dong'e ejiao announced its first mid-term dividend arrangement in history. on august 22, dong'e ejiao released its semi-annual report. in the first half of the year, the company achieved a net profit of 738 million yuan attributable to shareholders of the parent company, a year-on-year increase of 39.03%; it plans to distribute cash of 11.44 yuan (tax included) to all shareholders for every 10 shares. the total amount of dividends is 737 million yuan, and the dividend ratio is close to 100%.
this year, a-shares also produced the first listed company to pay continuous “quarterly dividends”. on august 26, sanqi interactive entertainment stated in its mid-term report that the company planned to distribute a cash dividend of 2.10 yuan for every 10 shares to all shareholders, with the total dividend expected to be approximately 466 million yuan. in the early stage, the company disclosed that it planned to distribute cash dividends of no more than 500 million yuan in each period in the first quarter, half year, and third quarter of 2024, becoming the first a-share listed company to announce four quarterly dividends a year.
how to calculate interim dividends "clearly"
how much is the mid-term dividend of a listed company, when is it distributed, and how is it determined? in this regard, some companies provided explanations and responses in their semi-annual reports and 2024 interim results meetings.
according to the icbc announcement, the equity registration date for a shares and h shares is january 6, 2025, the dividend payment date for a shares is january 7, 2025, and the dividend payment date for h shares is january 24, 2025. agricultural bank of china disclosed that a-share dividends are expected to be paid on january 8, 2025, and h-share dividends are expected to be paid no later than january 24, 2025. china construction bank chief financial officer rong liu said that it plans to implement mid-term dividends after new year's day and before the spring festival in 2025.
"since its listing, agricultural bank of china has always adhered to the principle of maximizing shareholders' interests. it should be said that it has taken into account the relationship between shareholders' investment returns and the bank's long-term development. it has maintained relatively high and stable dividends, and the proportion has always been at more than 30%, it provides shareholders with generous investment returns." wang zhiheng, president of agricultural bank of china, said at the performance meeting that in the next step, agricultural bank of china will continue to pay attention to the wishes of shareholders and actively maintain the stability of the dividend ratio while maintaining a good balance. interests of all stakeholders.
wang zhiheng said that after the shareholders' meeting approves the decision, he will speed up the relevant work to ensure that the mid-term dividend payment is completed before the spring festival next year.
zhao peng, vice chairman and president of picc group, bluntly stated at the performance meeting that the company increased its mid-term dividend mainly due to comprehensive consideration of several reasons: first, to implement the new "national nine articles" requirements and enhance investors' confidence in the company's reform and development. ; the second is to further reward investors and share the dividends of the company's development with investors in advance; the third is to determine the dividend ratio and calculate the interim dividend amount by comprehensively considering factors such as regulatory requirements, business development and operating results under the new standards.
"we will mainly distribute about 40% of the profit distribution amount for the whole year of 2023. subsequently, we will calculate the full-year dividend amount based on the net profit attributable to the parent company realized in 2024. at the same time, we must also meet the requirements of the ministry of finance on state-owned capital gains. turn over ratio requirements,” zhao peng said.
according to industry insiders, mid-term dividends and multiple dividends reduce the company's cash reserve requirements, but put forward higher requirements for the cash flow management of listed companies. however, in the process of implementing a dividend strategy, listed companies need to carefully consider the rationality of the dividend plan, comprehensively examine the characteristics of the industry, growth stage, profitability and other factors in which they are located, and make a balance between giving back to investors and ensuring the company's long-term development. find the balance.
(this article was published in "china economic weekly" issue 18, 2024)
