On the evening of April 15, Aerospace Science and Technology announced that it received an inquiry letter from the Shenzhen Stock Exchange on the company's 2023 annual report, and the Shenzhen Stock Exchange required Aerospace Science and Technology to list the specific circumstances of the implementation of cash dividends to the parent company by relevant subsidiaries during the reporting period, including but not limited to the cumulative undistributed profits of each subsidiary, the net profit in the reporting period, the amount of dividends to the parent company, retained earnings and uses, etc. At the same time, the Shenzhen Stock Exchange also asked Aerospace Science and Technology to explain the specific plan and feasibility of improving the return level of investors in the future.
Aerospace Science and Technology is not alone, and a number of listed companies have recently received inquiry letters due to the issue of dividends. On April 12, the new "National Nine Articles" and a series of supporting measures of the securities regulatory system and the draft for comments were introduced, among which the exchange intends to include companies that have not paid dividends for many years or have a low dividend ratio into ST, which has attracted great attention from the market. Some business people questioned that the "mandatory dividend" may weaken the company's long-term development ability. However, in the view of many analysts, the new regulations aim to urge companies that have the ability to pay dividends to return investors, taking into account the company's size, profitability and cash flow, etc., and better taking into account the rights and interests of investors and enterprises, which is conducive to a virtuous cycle in the capital market.
The "Pixiu" company has been frequently questioned
Also on April 15, Jilin Expressway received a regulatory inquiry letter issued by the Shanghai Stock Exchange on the company's profit distribution plan. The Shanghai Stock Exchange requires it to explain the reasons and reasonableness of the company's non-dividend or low dividends for many years in the context of a high balance of monetary funds and many years of profitability, and whether there is a large amount of idle funds.
It is reported that the net profit of Jilin Expressway in 2023 will be 546 million yuan, but the company has reviewed and approved the profit distribution plan for 2023, and intends not to distribute profits, not to carry out cash dividends, not to implement share gifts and capital reserve to increase share capital, among which Vice Chairman Liu Xianfu and independent director Lin Jianzhong abstained from voting on the plan. Liu Xianfu's reason for abstaining from voting was that "it is recommended that the company should consider the immediate cash return requirements of shareholders and formulate a cash dividend plan while meeting the long-term development capital needs." Lin Jianzhong took into account the changes in the capital market environment, and formulated an appropriate cash dividend plan in 2023 in accordance with regulatory requirements and the actual situation of the company. Historically, Jilin Expressway was listed in 2010 and has paid cash dividends 10 times so far, with a cumulative dividend amount of 570 million yuan, accounting for 15.7% of the total cumulative net profit of listed companies, and the dividend rate is low.
Earlier, the Shanghai Stock Exchange also issued a letter of inquiry to Fangda Special Steel, requiring it to explain the reasons and reasonableness of the company's high balance of monetary funds and many years of profitability in the context of not paying cash dividends for two consecutive years. All directors, supervisors and senior executives of the company are also required to express their opinions on whether the matters related to the cash dividend plan are reasonable.
Shortly after receiving the letter of inquiry, on the evening of April 8, Fangda Special Steel announced that after the resolution of the board of directors, the company intends to distribute profits based on the total share capital registered on the registration date of the implementation of equity distribution, and intends to distribute cash dividends of 0.1 yuan (tax included) per share to all shareholders, with a total cash dividend of 233 million yuan (tax included), and an annual cash dividend ratio of 33.84%. The 2023 profit distribution plan reviewed and approved by Fangda Special Steel is that it is planned not to carry out cash dividends, not to distribute stock dividends, and not to convert capital reserve into share capital.
Analysts believe that with the introduction of the new "National Nine Articles", more and more companies will be questioned about dividends. In the "circle of friends" of securities practitioners, a list of listed companies that have not paid dividends for many years, there are companies that have not paid dividends for 30 years and are nicknamed "Pixiu" companies. According to the statistics of Flush iFinD, as of April 16, more than 420 companies have not paid dividends after listing, mainly in machinery and equipment, electronics, chemicals, pharmaceuticals and other industries.
Enterprises intensively announce dividend plans
April 15 is the first trading day after the introduction of the new "National Nine Articles", and many listed companies have expressed their stance intensively on the issue of dividends. Jiangte Motor said on the interactive platform that the new dividend regulations have no impact on the company, and it is unlikely to be ST because of this. Longda Gourmet said that the company's board of directors formulated the company's "Shareholder Dividend Return Plan for the Next Three Years", and in the next three years, the company's annual profit distributed in cash should not be less than 20% of the distributable profit realized in the current year. Venustech said that after fully considering the company's profitability, cash flow situation and future development needs, it decided to increase the dividend ratio to 45% in 2023, with a total dividend of 331 million yuan to create higher value for shareholders.
At the same time, a number of listed companies in Jiangsu Province have released profit distribution plans for 2023. Suneng said that according to the announcement of the 2023 profit distribution plan, the company intends to distribute a cash dividend of 2.1 yuan (tax included) to all shareholders for every 10 shares, with a total cash dividend of 1.447 billion yuan (tax included), accounting for 60.37% of the net profit attributable to the parent company in 2023. Jiangsu Guoxin will distribute a cash dividend of 1.00 yuan to all shareholders for every 10 shares, with a total cash dividend of 378 million yuan, no bonus shares, and no capital reserve to increase share capital. When asked whether the dividend plan is affected by the new "National Nine Articles", an insider of a listed company told reporters: "The dividend plan has already been formulated, but the company is also closely studying the new "National Nine Articles" and will continue to give back to investors." ”
Under the new rules on dividends, many "iron roosters" have increased their dividends. Wuxi Bank's profit distribution plan for 2023 is "cash dividend of RMB 2 for every 10 shares", with a total cash dividend of RMB 438 million, with a dividend ratio of 20.89%. Based on the average annual transaction price, Wuxi Bank's dividend yield in 2023 is 3.66%, which is only slightly higher than Ruifeng Bank and Changshu Bank among A-share listed banks. However, this is already the most "generous" year for Wuxi Bank, and its financial report shows that its dividend yield from 2016 to 2022 is 1.15%, 1.18%, 2.53%, 3.01%, 3.12%, 2.85%, and 3.53% respectively.
Perhaps due to the hasty formulation of the dividend plan, some listed companies have made major disclosure errors. The profit distribution plan released by SuperMap Software on the evening of April 14 plans to distribute a cash dividend of 1.0 yuan (tax included) to all shareholders for every 10 shares, with a total cash distribution of 49.2767 million yuan. However, in the body of the annual report, SuperMap Software said that the company needs to distribute 492 million yuan in cash.
The new rules take into account the rights and interests of investors and enterprises
When listed companies intensively introduced dividend plans in response to the new "National Nine Articles", some companies said that they were "unable to pay dividends". On the evening of April 15, Jiangsu Thorpe disclosed that based on the consideration of saving capital costs and ensuring the company's production and operation and project construction needs, it was decided not to pay cash dividends in 2023, nor to implement share gifts and capital reserve to increase share capital, which is the first time in the company in the past four years (neither dividends nor distribution). Anji Technology, whose dividend rate has hit a record low, said that the company is currently in an important stage of rapid development and needs a lot of financial support.
According to the dividend standard in the new dividend regulations, some investors estimate that thousands of companies in A-shares will be ST, believing that it may cause market shocks. Another investor said that the new rules need to be further refined, and in some highly competitive high-tech industries, the new rules on dividends are tantamount to a "tight spell", which will weaken the long-term competitiveness of enterprises.
However, more practitioners are positive about the new rules. Some analysts believe that "the new regulations will effectively urge more companies that have the ability to pay dividends to increase dividend buybacks, and effectively enhance investors' sense of gain." In the long run, it will further increase the scale of investment, which is conducive to the financing of listed companies. At the same time, the new regulations fully take into account the differences in the characteristics of different sectors and the growth of listed companies, and the main board and the gem form differentiated arrangements in the setting of indicators. In terms of the STAR Market and ChiNext Board, the absolute value standard of dividend amount will be adjusted to 30 million yuan, and companies on the STAR Market and ChiNext with cumulative R&D investment accounting for more than 15% of their cumulative operating income in the last three fiscal years or more than 300 million yuan in R&D investment in the last three fiscal years can be exempted from ST. In addition, considering that the disclosure of annual reports has not yet ended, and the rules will only be applied for the first time in 2025, it is expected that companies will be promoted to enhance investor returns through dividend buybacks and other means, and there will not be many companies that are actually ST.
Financial commentator Guo Shiliang believes that in the process of implementing the new dividend rules, it is still necessary to continuously improve the rules and plug various loopholes in the rules. He said that there may be some positive changes in the A-share market, with more listed companies implementing twice-a-year dividends, a significant increase in the proportion of A-share buybacks and cancellations, and the new dividend rules will promote the increase in the dividend yield of A-shares, while further enhancing the investment attractiveness of the A-share market.
Jiangsu Economic News reporter Fan Jun