Ayala Corp, PLDT declare dividends

AYALA Corp. and PLDT Inc. on Tuesday both said that their respective boards had authorized the declaration of cash dividends.

In a disclosure, the Zobel-led conglomerate said the firstquarter dividends would be issued on February 29 of this year to all stockholders of record as of Feb. 14, 2024.

Ayala said the declaration of cash dividends — to be sourced from its 2023 unrestricted retained earnings — was aligned with the Asean Corporate Governance standard, which outlines that dividends should be declared “no more than 30 days before the payment date.”

“The dividends shall be paid by electronic transfer to stockholders with enrolled accounts,” it added.

“For stockholders with no enrolled accounts, the dividend checks shall be available for pick-up beginning February 29, 2024, at the Stock Transfer Service Inc.”

Ayala will pay out around P39.74 and P6.03 for each preferred “A” and preferred “B” Series 2 share, respectively.

PLDT, meanwhile, said it would issue a total of P12.15 million for its Series 4 preferred stocks.

The telco told the stock exchange that the dividends for its cumulative nonconvertible redeemable preferred stocks were payable on March 15 of this year to all shareholders on record as of Feb. 14, 2024.

“The cash dividend was declared out of the unaudited unrestricted retained earnings of the company as [of] June 30, 2023, which are sufficient to cover the total amount of dividends declared,” the telecommunications provider said.

As of end-September of last year, PLDT’s net income marginally increased to P27.9 billion from P27.5 billion a year ago, while Ayala’s ninemonth earnings climbed to P44.68 billion from P35.32 billion

On Tuesday, Ayala shares dropped by P1 to P660 apiece while PLDT’s share price declined by P9 to P1,275 each.