CIAL to give out 27 percent dividend to shareholders

TheCochin International Airport Limited (CIAL) on Saturday endorsed the proposal of its board of directors to give out a dividend of 27 percent to shareholders of the company. A decision to this effect was taken at the 25th annual general meeting (AGM) held here.

Addressing the shareholders as the chairman of the company, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, said CIAL is one of the best institutions in the state and though there was a lot to mention about its achievements during the previous fiscal, the observance of model code of conduct prompted him to refrain from it. CIAL has registered a net profit of Rs 166.92 crores out of a turnover of Rs 650.34 crore during the financial year 2018-19.

The board of Directors had in June proposed a dividend of 27 percent to the investors. Despite the closure of the airport for 15 days due to the August flood, the company registered an increase of turnover of 17.52 percent, a CIAL statement said.

The turnover during 2017-18 was 553.41 crore. The profit (after tax) was increased by seven percent ie, 155.99 crores in 2017-18 to 166.92 crore in 2018-19, it said.

The consolidated turnover achieved by CIAL and its fully owned subsidiaries like CIAL Duty-Free and Retail Services Ltd (CDRSL) stands at Rs 807.36 Cr for the accounting FY. It was Rs 701.13 crore in 2017-18.

The consolidated profit is increased from 169.92 crores in 2017-18 to 184.77 crore in the accounting year. CDRSL alone has logged a turnover of Rs 240.33 crore.

CIAL, which pioneered the idea of the PPP model in airport infrastructure development enjoys a base of more than 18,000 investors from 30 countries was incorporated in 1994 and the airport was inaugurated 20 years back, in 1999. The company has been paying dividends consistently since 2003-04 and with the endorsement at the 25th AGM held on Saturday, the total dividend pay-out touched 255 percent.

The Kerala government which has a share of 32.41 percent in the company would be given Rs 33.44 crore as dividend from CIAL. CIAL directors K Roy Paul, A K Ramani, M A Yusuffali, C V Jacob, E M Babu, Managing Director V JKurian, Company Secretary Saji K George were present at the meeting.

Cochin International Airport today stands at fourth in the country in terms of international traffic and seventh in total traffic has been handling more than 10 million passengers a year since 2017-18. CIAL became the world's first airport fully powered by solar energy in 2015.