KATHMANDU, Dec 23: Three public entities including Nepal Telecom (NT), Agriculture Development Bank Limited (ADBL) and the Citizens Investment Trust (CIT) have announced up to 30 percent dividends to their shareholders.
NT has proposed to provide 30 percent dividends to its shareholders, one of the lowest in the past one and a half decades. Prior to this, the state-owned telecommunication enterprise had been providing more than 40 percent dividends on average.
NT’s paid-up capital stands at Rs 18 billion. It has proposed to distribute a total cash dividend of Rs 5.40 billion from its profits in the fiscal year 2023/24. In the review year, the revenue of NT fell to Rs 38.9 billion from Rs 45.57 billion six years ago. Similarly, its net profit was limited to Rs 6 billion in the last fiscal year, down from Rs 15.67 billion in FY 2017/18.
Smart Telecom starts 4G service today: starts 4G service today
According to NT, it faces heavy decline in its revenue in recent days due to a drop in usage of traditional voice call services caused by an increasing use of over-the-top (OTT) services including viber, whatsapp and skype, among others. Likewise, growing competition with an increasing number of internet service providers and their diversified products are also behind the NT’s declining businesses.
Meanwhile, the CIT is set to provide 13 percent dividends to its shareholders. This includes seven percent bonus shares and six percent cash dividends. The annual general meeting of the semi-government body held on Sunday approved the proposal of dividend, according to a press statement of the CIT.
Likewise, the ADBL has proposed to distribute 10.53 percent of dividends to its shareholders. The recently held board meeting of the ADBL has sought to provide three percent bonus shares and 7.53 percent cash dividends.
According to the ADBL, it is looking forward to receiving final approval from Nepal Rastra Bank in this regard. Last year, the government-owned financial institution did not provide any return to its shareholders.
