During their annual stockholder’s meeting on Wednesday, stockholders of SM approved the increase in its authorized capital stock to P28 billion. It is divided into 2.79 billion common shares and 10-million preferred shares. The stock hike will support the declaration of stock dividends equal to P4 billion of the company’s consolidated net income of the previous year.
In a briefing, SM Chief Finance Officer Jose T. Sio had this to say: “Since we have adequate retained earnings, we want to share it to our shareholders.” According to the annual report, SM had P53.19 billion in cash and cash equivalents towards the end of the previous year. For 2016, SM is setting a capital expenditure budget of P80-P85 billion.
