PZU to pay zł.466 million in 2003 dividends

The largest national insurance company, PZU plans to devote zł.466 million, which is half of its 2003 profit in dividends. This will work out as zł.5.4 per share. PZU posted a record 2003 net profit of zł.900 million. It is listed neither in Poland nor abroad, but it has a number of private shareholders like Eureko, Millennium Bank and several Polish banks, but the majority of shares are held by the state treasury. The dividend will be paid out in late August and will go some way to help the banks improve their Q3 financial results. The PZU management board hopes that the company will be able to pay out 25-50% of its net profit in dividends over the next few years. (Parkiet, p. 1) J.J.