Wednesday, March 30, 2011

V.S. Industry sets dividend policy of minimum 40% payout ratio

KUALA LUMPUR: V. S. Industry Bhd (VSI) has set a dividend policy of making out an annual payment of at least 40% of its net profit to shareholders as dividends, and plans to disburse payouts on a quarterly basis.

The dividend policy is effective in the current financial year ending July 31, 2011 (FY11).

Its managing director Gan Sem Yam said the company had been paying dividends since listing in 1998, with payout ratio ranging from 20% to 60% of net profits, adding that on average VSI had been paying more than 40% of net profits as dividend to shareholders.

The setting of the dividend policy indicated the group's maturity as a publicly-listed entity, as well as the board's confidence in VSI's financial prospects, he said in a statement Wednesday, March 30.

'Our positive outlook is based on our increasing customer base of multi-national corporations, as a result of VSI's favourable position in the EMS industry.

'The dividend policy is therefore a step towards providing shareholders with consistent returns in line with our growing profitability. We believe that this initiative would enable us to cultivate a pool of long term shareholders in the company,' he said.

For the financial year ended July 31, 2010, VSI paid a single tier dividend of 6.5 sen per share, amounting to a total payout of RM11.7 million, or 48.1% of its net profits of RM24.3 million for the financial year.

Meanwhile, VSI's net profit in the second quarter ended Jan 31, 2011 surged 134.1% to RM10.1 million from RM4.4 million a year ago, due to higher revenue.

Gan said the profit came mainly from the higher group sales as a result of the increased sales generated by its Malaysian and Indonesian operations.

'Ultimately, we believe that the main driving factor to the increased orders from our clients was the improving consumer sentiment in the developed markets, after having emerged from the economic challenges in 2009,' he said.

VIS declared a second interim single tier dividend of 2.5 sen per share, payable on May 5, 2011.

VSI has earlier paid a first interim single tier dividend of 2 sen per share on Feb 28, 2011, in respect of FY11.

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