Dividend
Dividend information 2008
The Lufthansa Group increased its offer and sales during the past business year. The Group was able to almost reproduce its previous year’s result by posting operating profit of around 1.35 billion euros. The Group profit was posted at 599 million euros; Last year’s figure had been 1.66 billion euros, however, it had also included 585 million euros of profit from extraordinary items. “This represents an outstanding result and its quality is underlined by the fact that it has been achieved during a time of global economic crisis. It reflects the quality of our company. A company in which a strong team, strong products and a strong balance were decisive in ensuring success. We intend to maintain our lead in the far more challenging environment of 2009. Our financial and operational flexibility will allow us to benefit from the opportunities that come our way during the crisis”, commented Lufthansa Chairman and CEO Wolfgang Mayrhuber, speaking at the presentation of the annual result for 2008. In view of the very good result and taking into consideration the current challenging economic situation, the Executive Board and Supervisory Board have proposed a dividend of 70 eurocent per share at the Annual General Meeting.
The Annual General Meeting of 24 April 2009 approved the distribution of the balance sheet profit for the 2008 financial year of EUR 320,556,300.40 to pay the proposed dividend.
Questions and Answers on the dividend
Will Lufthansa pay a dividend for 2008 and how high will it be?
We pursue a dividend policy based on continuity. Dividends are primarily oriented towards the Group’s operating performance. In recent years, we have distributed 30 to 40 per cent of the operating result to our shareholders. This presupposes, however, that a dividend can be made from the net profit as disclosed in the individual and consolidated financial statements of Deutsche Lufthansa AG. Extraordinary income, which can generally be used for higher distributions, did not occur in the reporting year. Our sense of responsibility rather requires us to take account of the current uncertain functioning of financial markets in view of the investment programme ahead in addition to the pillars of our dividend policy. Having weighed all these factors, the Annual General Meeting voted on 24 April 2009, in favour of the proposal by the Executive Board and the Supervisory Board to pay a dividend of EUR 0.70 per share for the 2008 financial year. This corresponds to a dividend yield of 6.3 per cent based on the closing share price for the year.
On which shares will dividends be paid?
You will receive dividends on all those shares deposited in your custodian account on the day of the Annual General Meeting – 24 April 2009.
How and when will the dividend be paid?
Lufthansa will transfer the dividend to shareholders’ accounts at the depositary banks on 27 April 2009 via Clearstream Banking AG, Frankfurt. This procedure applies to shares that are held in collective custody. The payout on those shares which are still held in certificate form will be made upon presentation of the dividend warrant No. 11 at the Company’s cashier’s office or at any of the branches of Dresdner Bank AG. The official dividend announcement were published on 27 April 2009 in the Federal Gazette, in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung and also here on the Internet.
What taxes must be paid?
Dividends are taxable for all shareholders according to the applicable statutory regulations. Capital gains tax and solidarity surcharge become due when the dividend payment is made (26.375% in total, consisting of capital gains tax of 25% plus 5.5% of the amount of capital gains tax as a solidarity surcharge).
In the case of shareholders resident in Germany, the dividend will be paid out without any deduction for capital gains tax and the solidarity surcharge if share-holders have submitted a certificate of non-assessment issued by their local tax office to their depositary bank. The same applies in full or in part to shareholders who have submitted a withholding exemption certificate to their depositary bank, as long as the exemption amount stipulated on the form has not already been exhausted by other capital gains.
In the case of non-German shareholders, the investment income tax withheld, incl solidarity charge, can be lowered in accordance with the terms of existing agreements on the avoidance of double taxation between the Federal Republic of Germany and other countries. Applications for refunds of the reduction amount must be addressed to the Federal Tax Office (Bundesamt für Finanzen) in Bonn.Where can I seek advice on matters relating to the dividend payment?
If your shares are held in collective custody, contact your depositary bank.
Dividend policy
- Dividends are determined by operating performance
- Net profit of Lufthansa AG and the Group must exceed the amount of the total dividend payment
- In this framework we seek continuity (stable payout-ratio)
- In cases of extraordinary income, additional payments are possible, provided capital structure targets are met and no value creating investments are available
Lufthansa Results and Dividend
| 20/11/2009, 05:35 pm CET |
| LHA.XE: 10.71 EUR (-0.79 %) |
Jobst Honig
Investor Relations Manager
+49 69 696 28011
jobst.honig(at)dlh.de
Gregor Schleußner
Investor Relations Manager
+49 69 696 28012
gregor.schleussner(at)dlh.de
Jobst Honig
Investor Relations Manager
+49 69 696 28011
jobst.honig(at)dlh.de
Gregor Schleußner
Investor Relations Manager
+49 69 696 28012
gregor.schleussner(at)dlh.de
Anja Schurr
Investor Relations Manager,
Annual General Meeting
+49 69 696 - 28009
anja.schurr(at)dlh.de
Elisabeth Bär
Investor Relations Manager,
Annual General Meeting
+49 69 696 - 28005
elisabeth.baer(at)dlh.de
Patrick Winter
Investor Relations Manager,
Share register
+49 69 696 - 28006
patrick.winter(at)dlh.de
Andrea Heinen
Creditor Relations Manager
+49 69 696 - 72316
andrea.heinen(at)dlh.de
Stefan Rost
Creditor Relations Manager
+49 69 696 - 72318
stefan.rost(at)dlh.de