DFCU Pays Government Sh184m In Dividends

Jan 16, 2002

THE Development Finance Company of Uganda (dfcu) Group has paid the Government sh184m in interim dividends.

By John OdyekTHE Development Finance Company of Uganda (dfcu) Group has paid the Government sh184m in interim dividends.The Chairman of the dfcu Group, Dr William Kalema, yesterday handed over the sh184,750,000 cheque to state minister for privatisation Prof. Peter Kasenene at the Privatisation Unit boardroom in Kampala. The group with a net worth of sh24b, declared a total interim dividend of sh1b to be paid to its shareholders.Dividends are a company’s after tax earnings paid to its shareholders.Interim dividends are paid by a company in a trading period usually half yearly, but can be paid quarterly. Kasenene commended the group for their excellent performance. He said the Government would negotiate with the group to allow Government shares in the group to be sold on the stock exchange. The pre-emptive rights law gives first priority to the group to buy the Government’s shares.The Government owns 18.5% of the shares in the group. The other shareholders are the Common Wealth Development Corporation (35.3%), DEG; a German development agency (24.7%) and the World Bank’s International Finance Corporation (21.5%).The Government plans to divest itself from the company by the end of the year and business valuation of the company is being done. Kasenene said todate 108 companies have been divested, realising sh229b. He said part of this money was used to pay workers’ terminal benefits, divestiture costs, liabilities and debts of the enterprises.Ends

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