ZABA proposed a dividend of HRK 6.27 per share. At the closing price on the day before announcement (22 February 2022) of HRK 67.8 per share, this would amount to a DY of 9.25%.

ZABA’s Management and Supervisory boards proposed to the bank’s General Assembly, whose meeting will be held on 6 April 2022, the decision on payment of dividends to the holders of ZABA-R-A ordinary shares. This payment will be in the amount of HRK 6.27 per share, which would be paid out of the profit realized in 2021.

At the closing price on the day before announcement (22 February 2022) of HRK 67.8 per share, this would amount to a DY of 9.25%. Yesterday the share price was up 3.24% and the share closed the day at HRK 70.00. After adoption of decision on the General Assembly, the record date for the dividend payment would be 14 April 2022, while the ex-dividend date is set for 13 April 2022. The proposed payment date would be on 6 May 2022.

As a reminder, the Company did not pay any dividends out of its 2020 profit, following the Croatian National Bank’s decision on 14 January 2021 on the temporary restriction of distributions for all banks that was valid until 1 October 2021.

Dividend per Share (HRK) & Dividend Yield (%) (2012 – 2022)

As of the end of January 2022, the NAV of Croatian Mandatory Pension Funds amounted to HRK 133.12bn (or EUR 17.7bn), representing a 10.7% increase YoY.

With the Croatian mandatory pension funds being one of the largest contributors and players in the Croatian capital market, they hold significant sway with how they invest their money, so it’s interesting to see how they’ve performed in the recent period.

NAV of the pension funds continued its growth in January 2022, reaching almost two consecutive years that they experienced growth. NAV at the end of 2022 amounted to HRK 133.12bn or EUR 17.7bn, (an increase of 10.7% YoY or HRK 12.9bn). On an MoM basis, this amounts to an increase of 0.1% of HRK 136.54m. It should also be noted that the net contributions in January amounted to HRK 611.5m.

AUM structure change – Mandatory Pension Funds (January 2018 – January 2022)

Looking over at the asset structure of the pension funds, bonds continue to amount for the vast majority of the total, currently at 62.05%, which as of January 2022, amounted to HRK 82.6bn, a decrease of 0.97% MoM (or HRK 801.8m in absolute amount).

Current Mandatory Pension Fund AUM (January 2022, %)

Next up, we have shares, which amount to 21.4% or HRK 28.6bn, an increase of 0.28% MoM (or HRK 402.8m in absolute terms). This increase is driven by both the domestic equity holdings, which grew by 0.58% MoM (or HRK 790.7m), as well as an increase in foreign equity holdings, which decreased by -0.73% (or HRK 947.5m). With this increase, domestic equity holdings account for 42% of total equity holdings. Looking at the equity segment on the annual basis, domestic equity holdings were up 28.9% YoY.