Over 5000 shareholders of UMEME, Uganda’s electricity distributor, will receive Shs12 billion in dividends, according to its 2017 financial report to be released tomorrow.
According to the report, the company will pay a dividend of Shs7.6 per share, lower than Shs18.8 it paid in 2016.
The payment of the dividends await the approval of the annual general meeting to be held in May, and the proceeds expected to be paid in early July are subject to withholding tax, where applicable.
The money will go to shareholders in the books of the company at close of business on June 20, 2018.
The report says revenue earnings for the year increased by 8.7 percent to Shs1.5 trillion boosted by a 7.5 percent jump in units sold. Revenues from industrial customers increased by 13.2 percent.
Further, the report indicates gross profit increased by 8.3 percent during the year to Shs515.9b on account of improved distribution margins and continued reduction in energy losses which have come down to 16.9 percent, from the 17.7 percent recorded in first half of 2017.
The company attributes the reduction to, ‘heightened efforts to reduce commercial losses throughout our network through continuous metering installation audits, use of technology like smart metering for large consumers and community mobilization’.
But the company says delayed approval of some capital investments by the regulatory authority continues to negatively impact the gross margin.
UMEME reports that electricity sales grew by 7.5 percent during the period, compared to 4.4 percent in 2016.
“We registered a 8.0% growth in sales to industrial customers compared to 5.2% in 2016, underpinned by the improved performance of Uganda’s economy and improved external market conditions in the neighbouring countries,” says the report.
Demand by domestic customers grew by 6.9 percent compared to 2.6 percent in 2016, on account of improved supply reliability, reduction in energy losses and additional customer connections.
Customers increased by 18.3 percent during the year to over 1.1m, with an extra of over 170,000 grid connections compared to over 150,000 in 2016.
Customers on pre-paid metering (Yaka) increased to 75.3 percent of the total customer base compared to 65.0 percent at December 31, 2016.
