No End To Dividends At Telemedia
Telemedia held its fifth annual general meeting last night. Making money has not been a problem for the hugely profitable company, but stability has been hard to find over the past eight years, as there have been a flurry of owners since 2003.
But now that the company's public ownership is enshrined by the constitution - it at has started to show the semblance of long-term stability - assuming that a constitutional challenge does not overturn that law.
So it was with the sense of fledgling new identity as a publicly owned corporation managed within a private framework that Telemedia held its Annual General Meeting last night.
7news was there:..
Jules Vasquez reporting
Telemedia welcomed some of its over one thousand new shareholders to an Annual General Meeting last night where the company's largesse was on abundant display with raffles, gifts, and goodies on display.
And they had every reason to feel good; Shareholders - led by the government with a 70% share-holding approved the payout of hefty 15 million dollars in dividends. That is half the company's profit for the past fiscal year, a profit which increased by 38% or $10 million dollars, from $21.3 million to $31.3 million.
Nestor Vasquez, Chairman - BTL
"As you know the articles required that we pay at least 45% of the profits of the year audited at financial showed. The board has recommended that we declared a dividend of 50% of the profits. As you may be aware the profit increased from about $22 million to about $31 million for the year, so that 50% means you get a bigger dividend this year."
Government will get the biggest part of that dividend payout - but these small shareholders will get about half a million dollars - in 1600 checks that were sent out today.
But more than just a payout that seemed reminiscent of the company, pre-Prosser, pre-Ashcroft glory days, these owners want a company that is robust and able to hold its own and grow its earnings in a competitive market against a nimble competitor:
Nestor Vasquez, Chairman - BTL
"We have made every effort to stabilize the company, to grow the customer base, to expand and improve our network, cut operation cost and to re-improve customer service nationwide. Based on the above we expect our company and business to grow in its resiliency in its quality and affordability to our customers while yielding a fair return to you our shareholders."
And to make sure that it remains competitive, Telemedia says it is going 4G:
Nestor Vasquez, Chairman - BTL
"Just this week we have committed to forging ahead and delivering only the best and fastest to our customers by rolling our 4G network by sometime before the middle of the year 2012."
While impressive, the sharp increase in profits for 2010-2011 is due principally to a change in the tax regime for internet services.
Channel 7