Macau’s Galaxy Entertainment Group on Wednesday issued a clarification to its dividend policy following reports in Hong Kong media claiming the company had not declared a Special Dividend since 2004.
A week after releasing its 2Q24 financial results and declaring an Interim Dividend of HK$0.50 per share, GEG pointed to some “ambiguity” in the Hong Kong media reports about its dividend history, noting that it had received some investor inquiries regarding such dividends payments.
“We wish to clarify that from July 2014, GEG has consistently paid two dividends per year,” the company explained.
“One dividend following the close of the half year and a second dividend following the close of year end. The only exception to this practice was during the period of COVID where due to the uncertainly of reopening dates, dividends were temporarily suspended.
“It should be noted that post-COVID reopening, GEG was the first Macau Concessionaire to recommence paying dividends. It should also be noted that GEG most recently announced dividend was HK$0.50 per share compared to the previous dividend of HK$0.30 per share, which represents a 66% increase in dividend payment.”
GEG also published a list of all dividends it had paid over the past 10 years, which show last week’s HK$0.50 Interim Dividend is the highest dividend per share paid since declaring a HK$0.70 dividend in July 2014.
“GEG wishes to confirm that we are committed to returning capital to shareholders through our consistent dividend track record,” said GEG Vice Chairman Francis Lui.
GEG’s 2Q24 results saw the company claw back significant market share, with analysts estimating that such share had hit almost 20% in July.
