PJSC Gazprom’s annual shareholder meeting decided not to pay the previously promised record dividends. It should be reminded that previously it had been planned to allocate 1.244 trillion rubles for these purposes, and the payment per share would have been more than 52 rubles.
This news was a complete surprise to the market. The gas giant’s shares on the Moscow Exchange plummeted almost 30% from the opening. A bit later the situation relatively stabilized. As of 14:00 Moscow time, the intraday decline in the securities was about 26%.
Gazprom will not pay dividends for 2021. Photo: Yandex
The shareholders of Gazprom, of which the state is the main shareholder with a 50.23% stake, have announced that it is not advisable to pay amid a change in the company’s current priorities. The main strategic goals at the moment are to fulfill the investment program, prepare for the winter period and pay the increased mineral extraction tax in the amount of 416 billion rubles.
A similar decision was taken by the shareholders of Sberbank. The only difference is that the non-payment of dividends was known in advance. Back in May the Supervisory Board of the credit organization against the background of the instruction of the Ministry of Finance recommended to abstain from distribution of the net profit, which amounted to a record Rb 1.246 bn.
Shares of the country’s largest bank were losing about 3% at the trading in Moscow on June 30. At the same time, the Moscow Stock Exchange index decreased by only 1%.
