Anil Agarwal-led Vedanta Ltd on Monday approved the third interim dividend of Rs 20 per share for the current financial year, taking the total dividend payout for FY'25 to Rs 13,474 crore.
On July 26, the board had approved the second interim dividend of Rs four per equity share for 2024-25 amounting to Rs 1,564 crore. On May 16, the company had approved the first interim dividend of Rs 11 per equity share for FY'25 amounting to Rs 4,089 crore.
This takes the total dividend for 2024-25 so far to Rs 13,474 crore.
"The board of directors of Vedanta Ltd at its meeting held today i.e. Monday, September 2, 2024, has considered and approved the third interim dividend of Rs 20 per equity share on face value of Rs 1 per equity share for the financial year 2024-25 amounting to Rs 7,821 crore," Vedanta Ltd said in a filing to BSE.
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The date for the purpose of payment of dividend payment will be September 10, the filing added.
Similarly, during 2023-24 in total, Vedanta had declared a total interim dividend of Rs 29.5 per share, amounting to Rs 10,966 crore for shareholders.
The steady flow of dividend and appreciation in capital for investors has helped in generating a five-year total shareholding return and dividend yield of 276 per cent and 65 per cent respectively (as on June 30, 2024), as per Vedanta's investor presentation.
Sources had earlier said that Vedanta Ltd has prepared a war chest of Rs 30,000 crore with recent funds raised through a qualified institutional placement (QIP), offer-for-sale (OFS) to pursue further deleveraging and growth.
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Vedanta may deploy this war chest for accelerated deleveraging of its balance sheet, improving capital structure, development of its transformational projects paving the way for its near-term USD 10-billion dollar EBITDA target and pursuing inorganic opportunities, an analyst had said.
Vedanta continued to deliver strong quarterly numbers. For the first quarter, profit after tax grew 54 per cent year-on-year and more than doubled on a quarter-on-quarter basis to Rs 5,095 crore.
The mining major's debt stood at Rs 61,300 crore as of June 30.
Vedanta Resources, the parent firm of Vedanta Ltd, does not foresee a rollover of its loans and plans to deleverage as much as USD 3 billion debt over the next three years.
The dividend payout by Vedanta Ltd will help its parent Vedanta Resources pare outstanding debt. In the last two years, Vedanta Resources has reduced its debt by nearly USD 4 billion by using a combination of dividend payments from the Indian subsidiary and extending the maturity of its outstanding debt.
It now plans to further repay USD 3 billion over the next three years, which will help improve its liquidity and allow Vedanta Ltd to deploy capital for a slew of expansion projects.
Meanwhile, the company is on track with its demerger after receiving no-objection certificate from secured lenders and the stock exchanges. It has filed the scheme with the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT).
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The de-merger, which is planned to be a simple vertical split, will enable value unlocking and attract big-ticket investment into the expansion and growth of each of its demerged businesses.
By further simplifying its corporate structure, the demerger will create sector focused independent businesses that will provide investment opportunities to Indian and global investors, including sovereign wealth funds and strategic investors.
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