At its latest board meeting, FMCG behemoth Britannia Industries declared a 7200% interim dividend for FY 22-23 amounting to Rs 72 per share. During their latest meeting, the company’s board of directors announced the highest dividend paid since 2020.

This is the highest dividend payout for the company in the last three years and the first in the current fiscal year. The record date for determining shareholders eligible for the interim dividend has been fixed for Thursday, April 13, 2023. The interim dividend will be paid within the stipulated timelines as prescribed under the law, and the payment is subject to deduction/withholding of applicable taxes.

Britannia Industries paid a dividend of Rs 56.50 a share in May 2022 and Rs 83 a share in August 2020, the highest in its history.

Britannia Industries’ high dividend payout for FY23 may be attributed to its one-time profit in the December quarter of 2022. This profit came from selling its 49% stake in French dairy subsidiary Bel SA, resulting in a one-time gain of Rs 376 crore. As a result of this gain, the company’s net profit in the December quarter surged 151% YoY to Rs 932 crore.

Along with the one-time profit, Britannia Industries’ strong growth in earnings was due to a better topline and improvement in operational performance. This combination of factors is expected to positively impact the stock’s performance, with the high dividend payout potentially serving as an additional boost.

The growth in earnings has helped Britannia outperform the Nifty50 index by a wide margin in the last year. In the previous year, Britannia stock has given positive returns of 34%, whereas Nifty50 has given negative returns of over 1%.