Kofola Shareholders Approve Record Dividend

Ostrava, North Moravia, May 18 (CTK) – A record amount of Kc361.18m – Kc16.20 per share before tax – will be distributed among shareholders of Kofola drinks group in dividends under a proposal of the board of directors approved by the general meeting today, Kofola spokeswoman Jaroslava Musilova told CTK.

 

The entire profit for 2017 and a portion of retained earnings from previous years will be used for the dividend payment.

 

Last year, Kofola CeskoSlovensko’s shareholders were paid out a record-breaking Kc301m or Kc13.50 per share before tax.

 

The board originally proposed the same dividend as last year, but Aetos, the company’s majority shareholder, wanted more. The board discussed this counterproposal, and later submitted it to the general meeting for approval.

 

Kofola is a leading non-alcoholic drinks producer in Europe. It has seven production plants in the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland, Slovenia and Croatia, employing over 2,100 people, about 700 of them in the Czech Republic.

 

Kofola’s products include Kofola drinks, fruit drinks and syrups Jupi, drinks for kids Jupik, energy drinks Semtex and drinks of Vinea, Chito, Top Topic and Citro Cola brands.

 

Last year’s sales amounted to Kc6.96bn. EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation) reached Kc950.2m and operating profit was Kc385m.

 

Share capital is Kc2.2bn.

 

Aetos, a newly-set up company, has been the owner of 68 percent of Kofola since last year. It belongs to the Samaras family and other Kofola founders (shareholders Rene Musila and Tomas Jendrejek).