Semirara Mining declares P14.9-b dividends amid high coal prices

Integrated coal and energy company Semirara Mining and Power Corp., which benefitted from last year’s spike in coal prices, declared a record P14.88 billion in special cash dividends.

Semirara said in a disclosure to the stock exchange Tuesday its board of directors approved a special cash dividend of P3.50 per share to shareholders as of record date Oct. 23, 2023.

Ex-dividend date will be on Oct. 20, 2023, while payment will be made on Nov. 8, 2023.

The cash dividend will be sourced from the company’s unappropriated retained earnings as of Dec. 31, 2022.

The latest cash dividend is on top of the P14.88 billion in regular (P1.80/share) and special (P1.70/share) cash dividends paid out to shareholders in April this year.

It said with the additional special cash dividend, the total dividend payout of Semirara to shareholders for 2023 would reach P29.75 billion, the highest in the company’s history.

The company’s total annual dividend of P7 per share translates to a cash dividend yield of almost 20 percent based on its Oct. 6, 2023 closing price of P35.00.

Semirara ended 2022 with a consolidated net income of P39.9 billion, more than double its previous-year all-time high of P16.2 billion.

This was on the back of robust domestic coal shipments and higher spot electricity sales, along with elevated market prices.

Semirara is expecting coal production to each 15 to 16 million metric tons in 2023.