First Metro ETF cuts dividend, OKs stock split

LISTED First Metro Philippine Equity ExchangeTraded Fund ( FMETF), a unit of the Metrobank Group, said on Thursday that its board had approved the reduction of a stock dividend to 3 percent from the 10 percent that was previously approved last March 16.

“The reduction was made to coincide with the decline in the PSE index which resulted in the marking- to- market losses in the books of FMETF during the year,” the fund said in a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange.

“The record date to determine stockholders entitled to the stock dividend is set on June 8, 2018 and the issuance date is on July 4, 2018,” it said.

FMETF also said that during the annual meeting of its stockholders on Thursday, its board approved a 10- for- one stock split to reduce the par value of its shares from P100 per share to P10 per share, thereby increasing the authorized capital stock from 100 million shares to 300 million shares.

Companies usually carry out a stock split to make their shares more affordable to small investors in order to improve the shares’ marketability.

Incorporated in January 2013, FMETF is the country’s first exchange traded fund. It is engaged in the business of investing, reinvesting, and trading in, and issuing and redeeming its shares of stock in creation units in exchange for a basket of securities representing an index.

ANGELICA BALLESTEROS