By ETimes
HARARE – Shares of Econet rose 14.82% on Wednesday after the telecommunications giant declared an interim dividend of 0.55 US cents per share for the year ended 29 February 2024.
The total interim dividend stood at US$15 million and will be payable in respect of all the qualifying ordinary shares of the company.
“The dividend will be payable on or about 3 April 2024 to all shareholders of the company registered as at the close of business on 28 March 2024.
“The shares of the company will be traded cum-dividend on the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange up to the market day of 25 March 2024 and ex-dividend from 26 March 2024.
“Disbursements to foreign shareholders are subject to exchange control regulations and payment guidelines for foreign remittances. Applicable shareholders’ tax will be deducted from gross dividend,” the company said in a notice to shareholders.
Econet shares were 14.82% higher at $2,270.10 with a market cap of $5.88 trillion (US$335.89 million).
Meanwhile, the local bourse closed higher on Wednesday, with the benchmark ZSE All Share Index up 2.13% to 548,400.18 points.
Accordingly, market capitalisation increased by $1.14 trillion to $43.64 trillion from $42.49 trillion in the previous session.
The Top 10 Index surged by 2.79% to end at 246,333.17 points.
On the flip side, the Medium Cap Index depreciated by 0.43% to close at 2,162,494.19 points, while the Small Cap Index was flat at 12,702,579.67 points.
Trade turnover was also 63.14% lower compared to Tuesday’s session. A total of 4.1 million shares, valued at $6.03 billion, were exchanged in 222 deals.
Old Mutual Top 10 ETF added $1.4687 to close at $92.0000 while Datvest Modified Consumer Staples ETF added $0.0410 to $19.9922.
Sass Saddle Agriculture ETF eased $0.5182 to $7.2818. Morgan & Co Made In Zimbabwe and Morgan & Co Multi Sector ETF remained flat at $19.2595 and $701.5500 respectively.
Revitus Property Opportunities was flat at $552.1100 whilst Tigere Real Estate Investment Trust added $24.5396 to close at $700.4296.
The Victoria Falls Stock Exchange All Share Index declined 1.80% to close at 95.17 points. SeedCo International led the gainers, up 1.45% to US$0.2850. First Capital Bank gained 0.99% to US$0.0203.
Padenga and Innscor Africa Limited added 0.23% and 0.22% to settle at US$0.1303 and US$0.4410 respectively. National Foods was the worst performer, down 13.16% to US$1.2700. Simbisa shed 1.8% to US$0.3432.