PZU plans massive dividend payout thanks to record profits

"We are the most profitable insurer in Central and Eastern Europe and the first Polish financial institution ever to earn a net billion dollars in a year," stated PZU president Cezary Stypułkowski. He added that the company wants to pay out 50% of the profit in dividends, which means that shareholders may get zł.15.6 per share. "We can pay out half of the profit since at the moment we do not have any acquisition plans," said Stypułkowski. The growth of the company's profit is a result of the increased revenues from premiums which grew by 2.3% to zł.7.65 billion and the decrease of costs as well as a good investment policy. The PZU president also declared that the PZU Group may repeat the result this year, "The condition is the maintenance of a favorable situation on the markets," he said. (Puls Biznesu, pp. 1, 10; Parkiet, p. 1) E.B.