Oil and gas company OMV Petrom will pay dividends worth some EUR 377 million on account of the 2013 profit, with a dividend per share 10 percent higher than in 2013, the company announced. This was decided in the shareholders' meeting yesterday, April 29.

The gross dividend will be of RON 0.0308 per share. Dividends, which cover more than a third of last year’s profit, will be paid starting June 5 to shareholders registered in the shareholders’ register on May 16, 2014.

The company decided to increase by 3 percent its investments budget this year on 2013, to some EUR 1.46 billion. Most of the investments – 84 percent – will go to exploration and production. OMV Petrom invested around EUR 10 billion in Romania in the last nine years, almost double the profit it made during this period, according to the company.

OMV Petrom also announced a new board member, Johann Pleininger, whose mandate is valid until April, 2017. Pleininger will replace Jacobus Gerardus Huijskes, who gave up on his mandate.

The main shareholder in Petrom is Austrian OMV, with 51 percent of the shares, while the Economy Ministry has 20 percent, and Fondul Proprietatea – managed by Franklin Templeton – another 19 percent. The company’s shares are listed on the Bucharest Stock Exchange.

Petrom budgeted a profit of RON 3.93 billion (some EUR 880 million) for 2014, down from the record level reported for 2013, of RON 4.83 billion (EUR 1.09 billion).

editor@romania-insider.com