The Novosibirsk Tin Plant will pay Rb 3.00 per common share

The BoD of Novosibirsk Tin Plant, Russia’s one and only tin producer, has advised shareholders to authorize FY06 dividends of $0.116 (Rb 3.00) per common share when they gather for the company’s AGM, scheduled for June 22. Assuming the shareholders endorse the BoD’s proposal, the dividend yield will total 0.5% — identical to that of pipe-making plants. Also, the total dividend payout will equal $0.187 mn, or 11.6% of FY06 net income.

It is noteworthy that throughout its entire history Novosibirsk Tin Plant has paid out dividends only once, in 2004, when they amounted to $0.42 per share — a rather more generous figure and attributable to strong net income generated in the reporting period.

In analytics view, the modest dividend payout is the result of the company’s high investment outlays over the past 2 years. Specifically, last year the enterprise secured its own raw-material base after acquiring a number of mining and enrichment plants in Yakutia, the Russian Far East, and Kyrgyzstan, which will enable it to improve not only sales revenue, but also profit margins from production of tin and related brazes.

The company’s profits could climb substantially as early as 2007, thanks primarily to a spike in tin prices and a steady increase in the plant’s tin output.