Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) has got the shareholders' approval to distribute almost $844 million (AED 3.1 billion) as dividends for the first half of 2022, according to a bourse filing Monday.
Dividend payout DEWA will pay $0.017 (AED 0.062) per share for the first half of 2022 to its eligible shareholders in October 2022, the utility firm added.
The shareholders also agreed to suspend any further allocation of profit towards legal reserve as the company’s legal reserve is currently in excess of 50% of the share capital.
DEWA's second-quarter profits surged 37% to $710.6 million (AED 2.61 billion) as demand for energy rose with the resurgence in travel and tourism in Dubai. Revenue for the period jumped 14% to $1.9 billion (AED 7.01 billion).
The company had a market capitalization of $34.3 billion (AED 126 billion) as of October 20, 2022.
DEWA, created in 1922 as a result of the merger of the Dubai Electricity Company and the Dubai Water Department, ranks 13th on Forbes Middle East's Top 100 Listed Companies 2022. DEWA became a publicly traded company in April when it raised $6.1 billion during its blockbuster initial public offering (IPO). It was one of the state entities Dubai had planned to list this year to boost trading volumes of the local bourse.
By the end of the second quarter, Dewa served 1.12 million customers, a 5.12% increase from the same period last year.
Energy demand in Dubai rose by 6.3% on an annual basis in the first half of 2022, reaching 23.27 terawatt hours. The demand for water jumped 6.4% year-on-year.
The electricity and water utility provider owns 70% of Empower, a district cooling services provider. The group also comprises several other businesses, including Mai Dubai, a manufacturer and distributor of bottled water, Digital DEWA, a digital business solutions company, and Etihad ESCO, a company focused on developing energy-efficient solutions.
The Dubai utility firm is planning to increase its projects on water and electricity networks as well as renewables by allocating a capital expenditure worth $10.9 billion (AED 40 billion) over the next five years.
