GL Paying Interim Dividend

24 Mar 2014

SET-listed motorcycle leasing firm Group Lease Public Company Limited (GL) has decided to pay a final dividend from its financial results in the second half of 2013 in the range of 0.0409 – 0.0570 baht per share, depending on whether the company’s warrants now in circulation would be exercised.

In an official filing with the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET), GL said the final dividend was decided at the company’s Board of Directors meeting this morning (Mar 24, 2014) and subject to endorsement by shareholders at the Annual General Meeting (AGM) on April 30. The final dividend is in addition to the 0.11 baht per share interim dividend that was paid out last September. Altogether, the company would be paying out a total of 0.1509 – 0.167 baht or amounting to 167.9 million baht from the full-year 2013 results.

The record date for the final dividend has been set for May 12 – with the Ex-Dividend date on May 8 – while the dividend will be paid on May 28.

GL chairman and chief executive officer Mitsuji Konoshita had stated earlier that the company was weathering the current business slow-down which was brought about by the prolonged political crisis by consolidating its operations in Thailand and pushing ahead with expansion in Cambodia.

He stated that the company was in the process of turning the current “crisis” into “opportunity” and expected profitability to spring back strongly once economic and business conditions return to normal in the second half of this year which would enable large amounts of provisions that were earlier set aside for bad and doubtful debts to be reversed back into profits this year. Meanwhile, GL’s sales in Cambodia have now reached the break-even point and the operations there would be profitable from here on.