On the 10th June NLB held its General Meeting of Shareholders where shareholders approved EUR 7.13 DPS . Note that the ex-dividend date is 14 June, while the dividend will be paid on the 18 June of this year.

On the General Meeting of Shareholders, the allocation of the accumulated profit for 2018 and approval of dividend was voted on. The shareholders approved EUR 7.13 DPS, which, at the current share price, translates into dividend yield of 11%. Shareholders have also granted a discharge from liability to the Management Board and the Supervisory Board of NLB for the 2018 business year.

Note that the ex-dividend date is 14 June, while the dividend will be paid on the 18 June of this year.

The General Meeting of Shareholders has also elected four new members of the Supervisory Board of NLB for those whose current term of office has expired. They are Mark William Lan Richards, Shrenik Dhirajlal Davda, Gregor Rok Kastelic, and Andreas Klingen, and all four have been appointed to a four-year term. It has also authorized the Management Board of NLB for the purchase of own shares of the bank, in the period of 36 months from the adoption of the shareholders’ resolution, for the payment of variable remuneration to certain employees. When disposing of own shares which NLB acquired on the basis of this authorization, the pre-emptive right of the existing shareholders to acquire shares is completely excluded.

The second credit rating upgrade into investment grade should be a positive signal to the local capital market as we believe new international investors will now place Croatia on their investment map.

When observing major indices since S&P’s credit rating upgrade which took place in March, CROBEX recorded an increase of 4.1%. Meanwhile, CROBEXprime recorded an increase of 7.4%. We stress that one cannot directly conclude that the increase came solely as a result of the mentioned upgrade but in the same time it provided for additional comfort regarding the future outlook and risk premia of the country. There is no doubt in our view that the credit rating upgrade should be a positive signal to the local capital market as we believe certain new investors will now place Croatia on their investment map which should bring new and needed liquidity.

In addition to the positive stock market development which we experienced since March, this Friday another agency Fitch also raised Croatia’s credit score by one-notch to BBB- with a positive outlook, a move that takes it to the investment grade territory while in our view the positive outlook provides additional comfort – both on the macro and equity side. The upgrade came as a result of the country’s efforts in lowering public debt, balancing the budget, and improving economic growth. Furthermore, as a reminder Croatian GDP increased by 3.9% YoY in Q1 2019 due to a strong increase in household consumption by 4.4% YoY and investments by 11.5% YoY. 

Now having the second rating agency upgrade into investment grade adds additional tailwind as it might attract a new pool of investors who are seeking investments only into countries with investment grade credit rating by two or more credit rating agencies. We will closely observe the stock market performance after the second hike – let’s hope for the show.

To put things into a perspective, the mentioned deal accounts for around 12.7% of the consolidated 2018 sales.

Dalekovod published a document stating that the Swedish electric power transmission company Svenska Kraftnät, informed that the offer made by Dalekovod was chosen as the best one according to the criteria of the tender for the construction of a new 400 kV transmission line Snösätra – Ekudden.

The project includes deconstruction of existing 220 kV line, and construction of 400 kV line in the corridor of the existing one, between substations Snösätra in Stockholm and Ekudden in Huddinge Municipality.

The value of construction works is more than EUR 21m, which should be realized by 2021. To put things into a perspective, the mentioned deal accounts for around 12.7% of the consolidated 2018 sales.