KT has announced its decision to retire 5,143,300 shares of its own stock, which represents approximately 2% of the total issued shares, amounting to a total value of 178.9 billion won. The scheduled date for this share cancellation is May 24.
This stock retirement is a move aimed at increasing shareholder value, and KT plans to continue actively enhancing both shareholder and corporate value moving forward.
KT has been pursuing an aggressive shareholder return policy. In October of last year, it announced a medium-term shareholder return policy. Starting from the fiscal year 2023, for three years, it plans to distribute cash dividends and execute share buybacks amounting to 50% of its adjusted net income as per the separate financial statements. This year, it has finalized a dividend of 1,960 won per share and has completed a share buyback and retirement totaling 27.1 billion won.
Moreover, KT is implementing its first quarterly dividend since its establishment starting this year, and announced a cash dividend of 500 won per share for the first quarter on April 30. To enhance shareholder convenience and strengthen ESG management, it has introduced an online dividend inquiry service starting from this quarter’s dividend, allowing shareholders to easily check their dividends through the KT website (corp.kt.com) by completing a straightforward shareholder authentication process via PC or mobile.
Seong-Jin Lee daedusj@autodiary.kr