One of the provisions of the Emergency Ordinance on capping prices and offsetting gas and electricity bills, adopted on Tuesday evening, refers to the establishment of a mandatory dividend quota for utilities and state-owned companies, writes e-nergia.ro.
According to the latest form of the GEO that entered the Government meeting (the adopted form has not yet published), 90% of last year’s profit of autonomous utilities and companies with majority or wholly state capital will be paid to the budget, or will be offered to shareholders in the form of dividends. In “duly justified” cases, by decision of the Executive, the percentage may be less than 90%, but may not fall below 50%.
“(1) By derogation from the provisions of art. 1 para. (1) lit. f) of the Government Ordinance no. 64/2001 regarding the distribution of the profit to the national companies, the national companies and the commercial companies with integral or majority state capital, as well as to the autonomous utilities, published in the Official Gazette of Romania, Part I, no. 536 of September 1, 2001, approved with amendments by Law no. 769/2001, with the subsequent amendments and completions, for the financial year 2021, to the companies with full or majority state capital, as well as to the autonomous utilities established by the state, the accounting profit remaining after deducting the profit tax is distributed in a minimum amount 90% in the form of payments to the state budget in the case of autonomous utilities, or in the form of a dividend in the case of companies with full or majority state capital, in accordance with the law.
”(2) In duly justified cases, the Government may approve by decision, the distribution to the state budget, in the form of payments to the state budget in the case of autonomous utilities, or in the form of dividends in the case of companies with full or majority state capital, a share lower than 90% of the accounting profit remaining after deducting the profit tax, but not less than 50% of it ”, it is shown in the Ordinance.