WSE operator GPW's board to recommend dividend for 2024 in coming weeks

"We want to maintain our attractive dividend policy. In our strategy, we talked about the ambition of dividend growth per share. We will present the board's recommendation in the next few weeks," CEO Bardzilowski announced.

"It will take into account the higher CAPEX and the opportunities and chances related to growth through acquisitions, but we have a large cash cushion, so I am convinced that there will be no surprises versus market expectations," he added.

Asked whether GPW could surprise the market positively this year with its dividend recommendation, the CEO pointed out that there was already a positive surprise last year.

"We want to be attractively perceived in terms of our dividend profile, but we have just started analysing the possibility of accelerating growth through acquisitions," Bardzilowski replied.

"These analyses are ongoing, and we want to have the space to do this acceleration as well as to change the profile of our revenues, 65 percent of which are currently dependent on turnover. We would like to see this proportion reduced," he added.

In 2024, the WSE's operator paid a dividend of PLN 3 (EUR 0.72) per share. CEO Bardzilowski recalled that GPW's dividend policy is to allocate 60-80 percent of consolidated cleared profit to dividends.

"We said when presenting the strategy that there is a possibility to go beyond this range," Bardzilowski recalled.

Asked if GPW maintained its intention to pay dividends more often than once a year, the CEO replied that it did.

"The question is whether we start this from this year or from subsequent years. Our internal analyses and recommendations from our advisers say that for formal reasons, the launch of such a dividend payment system more often than once a year should start not with such a simple dividend distribution in two, but through an interim dividend," Bardzilowski said.

"Whether we are ready as early as this year will depend on the outcome of the analysis of acquisition opportunities," he added.

The CEO admitted that there are few entities for acquisitions on the market that are interesting to GPW.

"At the end of the year, we will provide an update on where we are and the direction we are going. We are interested in the generally financial area; we will not diversify into non-financial topics. For us the key one is the capital market, we see the future in it, we don't want to move away from it," he said.

pr/ ao/