Treasury foiled in bid for TPSA dividend payment

A general shareholders meeting of telecoms giant Telekomunikacja Polska (TPSA) yesterday rejected a bid by the State Treasury to overturn the management board's decision not to pay out a dividend. The Treasury, owner of a 35% stake in TPSA, was seeking a dividend of zl.0.32 per share, which would have guaranteed it a zl.156 million windfall. The Treasury argued that having made a profit of zl.1.82 billion last year, TPSA could afford the zl.448 million payout to shareholders that the zl.0.32 per share dividend would have cost. The decision to make the payment had been rejected by the majority of the management board, which comprises representatives of both the State Treasury and French consortium France Telecom-Kulczyk Holding. The management board decided that zl.1.7 billion, the bulk of the profits, will instead be set aside as back-up capital. The Treasury has announced that it is considering taking legal action, in a bid to have the decision overturned. (Prawo i Gospodarka, p. 13, Puls Biznesu, p. 10) A.K.