Moneta Money Bank board proposing extra dividend of Kc3 per share

Prague, Oct 17 (CTK) - Moneta Money Bank's board will propose the distribution of an extraordinary dividend of Kc3 per share at the general meeting scheduled for November 19, spokeswoman Lucie Leixnerova told CTK today.

Moneta has already paid a regular dividend of Kc9 per share for last year, which was increased by 12.5 percent year on year. Now the board wants to add Kc3 per share to this.

"I believe that given the bank's strong capital position, the dividend will be approved. Thus, a total of Kc12 per share will be paid out for last year, which corresponds to 118 percent of last year's net profit. The bank will thus tap into its reserves in the form of retained net profit to pay the extraordinary dividend," XTB analyst Tomas Cverna told CTK.

According to Cverna, possible extraordinary dividend payments are not ruled out in the future, as the bank's retained earnings amounted to almost Kc22bn in H1 of this year. The ability to pay a higher dividend is partly due to the optimisation of the windfall tax, which the bank does not have to worry about this year either, Cverna added.

The largest shareholder of Moneta, which is traded on the Prague Stock Exchange (BCPP), is financial group PPF. It had previously sought to merge Moneta with its Air Bank group. However, the plan fell through in the spring of 2022.

tam/er