MOEX Paid Out 55% of Net Profits to Shareholders in Dividend

The Russian institutional trading venue Moscow Exchange (MOEX) reported today that it completed dividend ‎Payments for 2015. The total sum paid was $252 million (RUB 16.2 billion), according to a ‎MOEX statement.

Earlier in April, the exchange's supervisory board approved a new ‎dividend policy, which constitutes a hike of its payout floor to 55 per cent of the group’s net profit ‎under International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS).‎

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In term of the numbers details, the above total sum of dividend represented 58.2 per cent ‎of the 2015 consolidated net profit, which showed a very impressive growth despite the ‎overall gloomy state of the Russian economy. Last year, Russia incurred significant losses after ‎sanctions were imposed by the EU and US, along with being one of the countries most affected from the big drop in energy prices.‎

According to the MOEX announcement, the dividend was RUB 7.11 per ordinary ‎share, with a total of RUB 12.9 billion paid out to the nominee holder (National ‎Settlement Depository) by 27 May 2016, and all other shareholders receiving ‎dividends by the 20th of June 2016.‎

Finance Magnates reported earlier in March that the Moscow Exchange’s net income ‎increased 74.1 per cent YoY to $435 million (RUB 27.9 billion) and operating income increased 51.3 per cent YoY to ‎$717 mln (RUB 46.0 billion). In addition, EBITDA increased 68.9 per cent YoY to $570 million (RUB 36.52 billion), while operating ‎expenses grew by 8.7 per cent YoY to $176 million (RUB 11.3 billion), well below Russia’s average rate of ‎inflation in 2015.‎

After more than three years of its IPO, Moscow Exchange, which is traded on its own Trading Platform under the ticker MOEX, ‎has become one of the broadest investor bases among Russian issuers with a free float of ‎around 57 per cent, the highest in the Russian market. However, shares of Russia’s main bourse dropped the most in almost two years in last February after China’s sovereign fund sold its entire stake in MOEX.

The table below shows the structure of MOEX's shareholders holding more than 5 per cent of votes in the highest governance body (as of 16.03.2016).