Take Tallink, paying eight cents per share – four times the two cents last year. It’s two percent of dividends plus six in paybacks.
«Generally speaking, all enterprises are indeed paying according to or above the expectations,» said Swedbank’s Baltic chief shares analyst Marek Randma. «In our assessment, last year was good above expectations, due to the good economic environment – overall, the economy grew, wages grew, inflation was low, interests record low, loans volume at banks increased.»
To this, LHV economists Joonas Joost and Shana Gavron agreed. «Looking back, the bulk of Tallinn Stock Exchange was positively surprising: Tallinna Kaubamaja, Tallink, Olympic, Ekspress Grupp, Merko, Nordecon and Harju Elekter,» they added.
As explained by Mr Randma, company balance sheets have improved year by year and debt payments are down; also, investments continue to be relatively low. «Therefore, it was possible for the companies to increase dividends,» said the economist.
Rather unexpectedly, at general meeting Ekspress Grupp proposed to pay five cents per share. In last year’s report, the media group board suggested four cents. Business daily Äripäev thinks the upward pressure was from majority owners.
«With both Olympic and Ekspress, they have very strong cash flows and they would probably be able to pay at least the same size of dividends next year,» said the LHV economists. «With both, however, the size of payments depend on whether they do sizable takeovers during a year or not.»