Western Marine approves 1% cash dividend

Listed company Western Marine Shipyard has finally approved a 1% cash dividend for its shareholders for fiscal 2021-21.

The approval came at the annual general meeting held on 23 December 2021.

Earlier in mid-November, the board of directors of the company recommended no dividend for the fiscal.

The shipbuilder fell into losses in FY21 for the first time since listing on bourses in 2014, due to internal conflicts among directors, mismanagement, short-term high-interest loans and investment in long-term projects, according to its annual declaration.

Its loss per share stood at Tk0.04 in FY2020-21. The earning per share of the company was Tk0.86 in the previous fiscal (FY2019-20), and it paid 0.5% cash and 2.5% stock dividends to its shareholders. In total, the company's profit in that year was Tk19.80 crore.

As of November 2021, sponsors and directors held 30.01% of the total share, while the institutional investors held 24.75%, and the general public investors 45.24%.