Mirae Asset Securities said on the 24th it will carry out shareholder returns of about 635.4 billion won, the largest ever.
Mirae Asset Securities held a board meeting that day and resolved cash and stock dividends, cancellation of treasury shares, and the appointment of a new outside director.
The total decided dividends are 174.4 billion won in cash dividends (300 won per common share) and 290.9 billion won in stock dividends (stock equivalent to 500 won per common share), totaling 465.3 billion won.
Based on the previous day's closing price before the board meeting, this is more than triple last year's cash dividends of 146.7 billion won. The record date for dividends is on the 17th of next month. The cash and stock dividends are planned to be paid within one month after approval at the regular shareholders meeting on the 24th of next month.
The treasury share cancellation will cover about 11.77 million common shares and about 180,000 class-2 preferred shares. Including the amount from last November's cancellation of about 4.05 million common and preferred shares, the total comes to about 170.1 billion won. As a result, the total shareholder returns for the last fiscal year amount to about 635.4 billion won. Considering net income of about 1.5 trillion won, the shareholder return ratio is about 40%.
At the board meeting that day, the company also passed an agenda item to appoint An Su-hyeon as a new outside director (audit committee member). Outside director candidate An Su-hyeon is currently the dean of the law school at Hankuk University of Foreign Studies and serves as a member for the consumer division at the Financial Supervisory Service, as well as a non-executive director at the Digital Asset Protection Foundation.
In addition, to strengthen responsible management by executives and employees and align their interests with those of shareholders, the board resolved to dispose of treasury shares for employee stock compensation. About 200,000 common shares will be granted to key managers and others.
The board also approved an agenda item to revise the company's articles of incorporation in line with amendments to the Commercial Act and the legal framework. The changes include renaming outside directors as independent directors, introducing an electronic shareholders meeting system, and strengthening voting right restrictions when appointing or dismissing audit committee members.
A Mirae Asset Securities official said, "In line with our results, we expanded the dividend scale to a record high, while also running cash dividends and stock dividends in parallel given that about 30% of earnings are unrealized gains and to improve capital efficiency," and added, "We will also proceed with the cancellation of about 11.77 million common shares and about 180,000 preferred shares, thereby reducing the total number of shares outstanding, while continuously bolstering shareholders' equity and growing into a global financial group with shareholder return policies suited to conditions."