Econet Wireless declares a cash dividend of $10m

Econet Wireless Zimbabwe declared a dividend of 0.386c per share, which amounts to US$10 million, for the first quarter ended 31 May 2017.

The dividend payment date is the 4th of October and withholding tax of 10% will be deducted where applicable. The record date is the 29th September which means to receive the dividend your name has to be in the register of members on that date.

The shares will trade cum-dividend until the 26th of September, which is to say if you purchase the shares before that date you will be entitled to the dividend. On the 28th of September the shares will trade ex-dividend meaning the seller of the shares will get to receive the dividend.

Econet Wireless introduced the option for dividends to be paid through EcoCash and will continue to give that option to shareholders. They say this is

in an effort to provide an expedient and convenient service to shareholders who have opted for this payment mode.

The company is therefore encouraging non corporate shareholders to provide their EcoCash details.

Payments to foreign shareholders will be subject to exchange control approval and payment guidelines for foreign remittances. This is because of the foreign currency problems the country is facing and is therefore an attempt to curb excessive foreign currency leakage on the government’s part.

The dividend has been declared even before the interim results and this might be a sign that the profits are going to be higher than expected. It also works to give investors confidence in the company, which could be the primary goal considering the low trade volumes on the ZSE.