Profil:
PZU SAUPDATE PZU insurer to earmark no less than 50 pct of profit for dividends in 2025-27
Listed insurance group PZU has adopted a dividend policy for 2025-2027, which provides for the payment of no less than 50 percent of profit as an annual dividend, the insurer said in a market filing. In coming years, PZU targets a dividend payment of at least PLN 4.50 (EUR 1.05) per share.
The dividend policy assumes that the amount of the dividend proposed by the management board is determined on the basis of the consolidated financial result of the PZU group attributable net profit, with no more than 20 percent increasing retained earnings (reserve capital) for purposes related to organic growth and innovation and the implementation of growth initiatives.
No less than 50 percent is subject to payment as part of the annual dividend, and the remainder will be paid as part of the annual dividend or will increase retained earnings (reserve capital) in the event of the realisation of significant expenditures related to the implementation of the PZU group's strategy objectives, including in particular M&A transactions.
The policy was approved by PZU's supervisory board.
As stated, the group's capital management policy is based on, among other things, maintaining a leverage ratio of no more than 25 percent, providing funds for growth and acquisitions, maintaining a surplus of own funds of the financial conglomerate above the financial conglomerate's capital adequacy requirements, and no issuance of shares by PZU SA during the policy period.
"The possibility of temporary deviations of the actual solvency ratio above or below the target level is assumed," PZU stressed.
In its 2025-2027 strategy, PZU targets a dividend payment of at least PLN 4.50 (EUR 1.05) per share.
"In the three-year horizon, we are focusing on profitability in the core business. Our banking business will be transparent to investors, thanks to the simplification of banking assets in our group. This will improve their management, and we will use the capital thus freed up for investment," said PZU's CEO Artur Olech, quoted in the press release following the publication of the 2025-27 strategy.
"We will generate additional savings in the PZU group as a result of synergies within the group and ensure an increase in profitability. We will increase the level of dividends and be less dependent on changes in the level of interest rates," he added.
In 2024, PZU's general meeting decided to allocate a total of nearly PLN 3.75 billion (EUR 871.1 mln) from the 2023 net profit and the reserve capital created from the 2022 net profit to the payment of dividends. This has translated into dividend of PLN 4.34 (EUR 1.01) per share.
The PZU group's strategy for 2021-2024 has assumed that at least 50 percent to 100 percent of consolidated net profit will be paid out as dividends each year. If any part of the profit was to be left over, it was to be conditioned by needs related to organic growth or mergers and acquisitions.
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