Žemaitijos Pienas dividend payment of EUR 14 million proposed

The asset management companies Orion Asset Management and INVL Asset Management propose that dairy company Žemaitijos Pienas pay dividends for 2016 of EUR 13.891 million, or EUR 0.30 per share. The corresponding proposal was submitted to Žemaitijos Pienas last week.

“Žemaitijos Pienas had EUR 17 million of cash available at the end of 2016 and no financial obligations at all. We think the money should be returned to shareholders,” said Orion Asset Management Fund Manager Donatas Frejus.

A change of the company’s audit firm to one of the Big Four auditors is also being proposed to shareholders, according to Vaidotas Rūkas, the Head of Funds Management at INVL Asset Management.

“The Bank of Lithuania found Žemaitijos Pienas’s financial statements for 2015 did not reflect the true condition of the company, so we think Grant Thornton did not fulfil its duties and should be replaced,” Vaidotas Rūkas said.

The investment managers also propose stipulating that Žemaitijos Pienas could pay up to EUR 2.50 per share for the acquisition of its own shares. “We think the fair value of Žemaitijos Pienas’s shares is bigger than the management’s proposed price of EUR 1.10,” Vaidotas Rūkas said.

Clients of the INVL group and of Orion Asset Management and members of the Lithuanian Investors Association together control more than 10 per cent of the shares of Žemaitijos Pienas.