Petrobras announced today (3) that the Board of Directors has approved the payment of dividends in the amount of R$3.3489 per preferred or common share. The total paid to the holders of more than 13 billion shares of the state-owned company in the financial market will be around R$ 43.7 billion.
Payment to shareholders will be made in two equal installments, one on December 20, 2022, and the other on January 19, 2023. On each of these dates, R$1.67445 will be paid per preferred and common share.
The announcement comes on the day the company will release its third-quarter financial results, which is expected to take place after the stock market closes. Tomorrow (4), the executive board of the state-owned company will give a press conference on the company’s financial performance.
In the statement, Petrobras states that the proposed dividend “is in line with the Shareholder Remuneration Policy, which provides that, in the event of gross debt of less than US$ 65 billion, the Company may distribute to its shareholders 60% of the difference between the operating cash and acquisitions of fixed and intangible assets (investments)”.
“In addition, the Policy also provides for the possibility of paying extraordinary dividends, provided that its financial sustainability is preserved”, adds the text. “Approval of the proposed dividend is compatible with the company’s financial sustainability in the short, medium and long term and is in line with the commitment to generate
value for society and shareholders, as well as the best practices of the global oil and natural gas industry”.
reviews
The new distribution of Petrobras dividends has generated criticism and should be questioned in court by the Single Federation of Oil Workers (FUP) and by the National Association of Oil Workers Minority Shareholders of Petrobras (Anapetro).
According to the entities, the total dividends distributed in the year will reach almost R$ 180 billion, while the investments made by the state-owned company in 2022, until June, total only R$ 17 billion, according to the company’s financial reports.
“FUP and Anapetro will judicially question any approval of new dividends and will sue each director for such a measure”, says the general coordinator of the FUP, Deyvid Bacelar, in a joint statement from the entities.
The announcement of the payment was also criticized by the president of the Workers’ Party (PT), Gleisi Hoffmann, who is part of the transition team for the government of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, elected president of the Republic.
The PT said that the dividend policy removes the state-owned investment capacity and only enriches shareholders. “Petrobras has to serve the Brazilian people,” she wrote on social media.
Petrobras, in turn, states that, in the 2022-26 Strategic Plan, the investment projects requested by the business areas were met.
“There are no investments held back by financial or budgetary constraints, and the decision to use surplus resources to remunerate shareholders is presented as the most efficient for optimizing cash allocation”.
