Samsung flags raised dividend at rare analyst briefing

Samsung's Galaxy S4 seen during its unveiling in New York Samsung Electronics promised to boost shareholder returns as it held its first analysts' briefing in eight years Wednesday in a bid to shore up its flagging stock price. Samsung President Lee Sang-hoon said the company would "put more emphasis on shareholder return" and would target a dividend yield this year of 1.0 percent of the average share price.
The company will review its shareholder return policy every three years to reflect changes in business conditions, he added.
The current dividend yield is around 0.5 percent.
Wednesday's briefing, which saw the company's top executives address 350 invited analysts and institutional investors at a Seoul Hotel, was a rare event for a company renowned for its relative lack of transparency.
The world's largest technology firm by revenue, Samsung has posted record profits in six of the last seven quarters, largely due to its growing dominance of the global smartphone market.
At the same time however, its dividend yield has fallen to a near-historic lows and its stock price has been down by as much as 20 percent this year.
Another major issue addressed at the briefing was Samsung's plan for managing its net cash balance, which currently stands at $50 billion -- or more than 20 percent of its market cap.
As well as the increased dividend yield, Lee signalled a greater investment in research and development, particularly in software, to help secure future growth.
He also acknowledged that Samsung had been "somewhat conservative" in the field of mergers and acquisitions, but added that this "may be different in the future."
Source: AFP