Hyundai Steel plans to put aside 15 percent of its net profit to offer shareholder dividends this year, the company said on Wednesday.
The payout ratio was the same as last year. Industry watchers said the move was significant considering that the country’s No.2 steelmaker saw its earnings fall 5.5 percent in 2015, compared to a year earlier.

Net profit stood at 739 billion won ($615 million) on a consolidated basis last year, the company said in a statement. Sales also fell 3.8 percent on-year to 16.13 trillion won last year, and operating income was down 1.8 percent to 1.46 trillion won, it said.

However, the steelmaker said it saved some 446 billion won last year by cutting costs, with the sales of high-priced steel products rising 310,000 tons to 8.53 million tons.

For this year, Hyundai Steel expects to sell 21.24 million tons of steel, up 1.31 million tons from 2015.

(khnews@heraldcorp.com)