Russia's Acron unable to pay dividend in full due to capital controls

Polymetal International PK

13/04/2022 15:30

April 13 (Reuters) - Russian fertiliser producer Acron
 AKRN.MM  said on Wednesday it was not able to pay in full the
dividend it had announced in February, in part due to capital
controls introduced by Russia in the wake of Western sanctions
following the invasion of Ukraine.
    Acron shareholders had on Feb. 25 approved a dividend of 240
roubles per share, or 8.82 billion roubles ($108 million) in
total, but it said it would not be able to pay out 3.02 billion
of that.
    It cited "temporary measures introduced by Russian
authorities to secure the country's financial stability", and
also blamed a lack of addresses or banking information for some
shareholders.
    Acron did not say if it would at some stage be able to
reinstate the full dividend.
    Russia has introduced capital controls in response to
Western sanctions and the Bank of Russia has barred Russian
companies from paying dividends to overseas shareholders.
 urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N2V50Q5
    Other Russian companies have also found the Ukraine crisis
constraining their dividend-paying abilities. 
    Gold and silver producer Polymetal  POLYP.L  said on
Wednesday it had postponed a decision on its 2021 final dividend
payment, while several other Russian metals producers, including
steel maker Severstal  CHMF.MM , have also delayed dividend
decisions.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL2N2WB0L1
    ($1 = 81.5260 roubles)

 (Reporting by Reuters; Editing by David Holmes)