Hindustan Zinc Ltd, a Vedanta Group firm, on November 16, announced a second interim dividend of around Rs 6,500 crore to its shareholders, according to an exchange filing.
The firm said its board approved a dividend of Rs 15.50 a share or 775 percent for the financial year 2022-23. It fixed the record date for the dividend as November 24.
Its parent Vedanta Ltd, which holds a 64.92 percent stake, is expected to get nearly Rs 4,251.77 crore of the total interim dividend of Rs 6,549.24 crore or $806 million. However, it's not clear if the same will be passed through to Vedanta's shareholders. The government, which owns a 29.5 percent stake in Hindustan Zinc, will get Rs 1,932.03 crore out of the total.
As of September 2022, Vedanta had a total consolidated debt of Rs 59,020 crore while Hindustan Zinc's total standalone debt stood at Rs 2,127 crore, according to Bloomberg.
In July, the firm had announced an interim dividend of Rs 21 a share for FY23, amounting to Rs 8,873 crore.
In October, Moody’s Investors Service downgraded the corporate family rating (CFR) to ‘B3’ from ‘B2’, and downgraded the rating for the senior unsecured bonds issued by London-based indebted VRL to ‘Caa1’ from ‘B3’.
The outlook on the ratings remained negative. Soon after this, VRL said in a statement it was discontinuing its engagement with the rating agency. VRL has also asked Moody’s to withdraw all the outstanding ratings.
Post this, Moody’s Investors Service, the international rating agency came up with a credit opinion note that explains the rationale for the rating downgrade, and further strengthens (the downgraded rating) stance.
Recently, shareholders of Vedanta cleared the proposal to transfer Rs 12,857 crore from reserves to profit and loss account for further distribution as dividends to investors. The firm got 99.96 percent votes from shareholders for this transfer.
Meanwhile, Vedanta did not announce any dividend in its September quarter earnings. According to analysts, the firm is expected to announce a special dividend soon. The promoters’ holding company Vedanta Resources will receive 70 percent of the amount distributed as dividends, analysts added.
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