Prague – The energy company ČEZ will pay shareholders a dividend of 34 crowns per share before tax. Today, the general meeting of the company decided. 18.3 billion crowns from last year’s profit of the company will be distributed among the shareholders, the state, as the majority shareholder, will receive 12.8 billion crowns. The proposal was submitted by the ČEZ Board of Directors. Analysts have previously said that they expected a similar amount of dividends. The General Meeting is an example of cooperation between ČEZ’s management and the government, said the minority shareholder Šnobr. According to him, the shareholders did not receive an answer to the questions. CEZ has allocated the remaining parts of the Mělník power plant to a subsidiary.
Last year, ČEZ paid a dividend of CZK 24 per share before tax from the previous year’s profit, the lowest dividend in 12 years. The year before, the dividend was 33 crowns per share.
CEZ owns 70 percent of the state through the Ministry of Finance, the rest is held by private shareholders. The majority of the dividend paid is thus directed to the state; voting at the ČEZ General Meeting generally ends according to the wishes of the Ministry of Finance. Last year, according to earlier statements by the company’s representatives, ČEZ’s results bounced off an imaginary bottom. Adjusted net profit, from which the dividend is paid, increased by 44 percent compared to 2018 to 18.9 billion crowns.
The decisive date for exercising the right to a dividend is July 2. Last year, CEZ’s net profit rose by 38 percent year on year to 14.5 billion crowns. The company was helped mainly by rising electricity prices and trade in commodities. The company’s revenues increased by 12 percent to 206.2 billion crowns. Despite the effects of the coronavirus pandemic, ČEZ expects further growth this year.
In March, the company announced that it expects growth in operating profit EBITDA for the full year from last year’s 60.2 billion crowns to 63 to 65 billion crowns and adjusted net profit of 21 to 23 billion crowns. In May, CEZ adjusted its outlook to 61 to 64 billion crowns in operating profit EBITDA and 19 to 22 billion crowns of adjusted net profit. “We now expect a full-year profit of only one to two billion crowns lower than we expected before the outbreak of the pandemic in the world,” said Martin Novák, the company’s financial director.
The General Meeting, which began at 10:00 am, is still ongoing, and shareholders will still decide on possible changes in the ČEZ Supervisory Board. The shareholders will also deal with the planned construction of a new Dukovany bloc. However, there will be no resolution in this, the point is for information only. At the request of minority shareholders around the criticism of the current management of the company Michal Šnobr, shareholders should also discuss a proposal to change the concept of the company’s business activities.
Critic: We did not receive an answer, the government and CEZ management in synergy
Today’s General Meeting is an example of synergy between the management of the ČEZ energy company and the government. Michal Šnobr, a representative of some of the company’s minority shareholders and a critic of the current ČEZ Board of Directors, said this in an interview with ČTK. He claims that minority owners today generally did not receive answers to the questions asked by the company’s management. He is satisfied with the approved dividend of CZK 34 per share before tax.
“It is clear from today’s General Meeting that there is an absolute synergy between the government as the controlling shareholder on the one hand and the company’s management on the other. He has basically ensured the stability of the positions of all members of the Board of Directors. It is, of course, very difficult to oppose this, “he said.
CEZ owns 70 percent of the state through the Ministry of Finance, the rest is held by private shareholders. The majority of the dividend paid thus goes to the state; voting at the ČEZ General Meeting generally ends according to the wishes of the Ministry of Finance. “As co-owners of the company, we only want real specific information, we don’t want anything above standard. Nevertheless, we didn’t get to anything,” Šnobr said today.
He stated that this year’s general meeting is a disappointment for him and the participation of minority shareholders. He attributes this to measures related to protection against the spread of covid-19. The participants of the General Meeting had to wear drapes, the organizers of the event had mostly plexiglass shields fitted from the entrance to the building of the Prague Congress Center to the entrance to the hall. It included mandatory hand disinfection and temperature measurement.
“If I listened well to those questions, it was a bit, at least at the end of the requests for clarification on point 4 (approval of the company’s financial statements) – that is the main thing, it looked like the Snobr party, because with a few exceptions only my requests were answered, “he stated.
He described the approval of a dividend of CZK 34 per share before tax as positive. Last year, the dividend was 24 crowns per share. “We are satisfied. Last year we said that the dividend of 35 crowns is something that ČEZ can easily afford in years when the average selling price of electricity is rising. We will be more demanding for next year. Due to the expected results and cash flow, we will want the dividend to be at the level of 40 crowns per share, “he added.
CEZ has allocated the remaining parts of the Mělník power plant to a subsidiary
The ČEZ energy company has allocated the remaining parts of the Mělník power plant – the Mělník II power plant and the Mělník III power plant – to the Energotrans subsidiary, which already includes the modernized Mělník I power plant units. At today’s General Meeting, CEZ shareholders decided to approve the company’s board of directors. Energotrans has been the operator of the Mělník I Power Plant since 1993. Since 2012, the company has been fully owned by ČEZ.
“The Energotrans subsidiary, which operates the modernized and greened units of the Mělník I Power Plant, is obliged under a long-term contract to supply heat to the capital city of Prague, but at least until 2037. The Mělník I Power Plant essentially needs infrastructure and technologies common to the entire site. for example, water management, railway siding, access roads, etc. All common infrastructure is owned by ČEZ, “he said on the point in the invitation to the ČEZ General Meeting.
Melnik power plant It is the closest of all CEZ plants to Prague – it is located approximately 13 kilometers below the confluence of the Elbe and Vltava rivers. It originally consisted of three technological units: Mělník I Power Plant (EMĚ I), Mělník II Power Plant (EMĚ II) and Mělník III Power Plant (EMĚ III), built between the late 1950s and 1980s as a complex of condensing power plants burning brown coal transported by trains from North Bohemian and West Bohemian mines.
At present, the installed capacity of the units in Mělník is EMĚ I – 4 x 60 megawatts (MW), EMĚ II – 2 x 110 MW and EMĚ III – 1 x 500 MW. In the 1980s, the reconstruction of the Mělník I Power Plant into a heating plant was started. Four of the original six units have been upgraded and two have been shut down. At the same time, the construction of a heat feeder to supply central heat to the Prague heating system was started. The heat supply for the capital city of Prague was started in 1995. Since 2003, the heat supply has also included the city of Neratovice.
In the invitation to the General Meeting, ČEZ stated that the future of the Mělník power plant has been discussed for a long time, mainly due to the fulfillment of ecological limits. “The spin-off of the Mělník Power Plant organizational unit, ie EMĚ II and EMĚ III units, into the 100% subsidiary Energotrans optimizes the decline in condensing production of ČEZ coal sources and creates preconditions for long-term safe heat supply for the capital city of Prague, as it will provide Energotrans with five years a backup heat source in the form of EMĚ II units, which can no longer be operated at the basic power plant load, but above all will bring the certainty of further operation after 2025 in the form of a common infrastructure, “added ČEZ.
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