Without industry, Europe is a one-armed giant
The increasing geopolitical conflicts Zsolt Hernádi said that last year was not about normalization either, the Russian-Ukrainian war is a constant threat due to the proximity of the conflict and also because it represents a fundamental security of supply issue, due to the risks related to the Friendship oil pipeline. There have also been escalations in the Middle East that we have not experienced for a long time, the most recent of which is the Israeli-Iranian conflict.
The with a European situation he said that there was no easing of the sanctions policy on the continent, and although the separation from Russian energy sources has mostly been achieved, it was accompanied by more expensive energy sources, and this clearly weakens the competitiveness of European industry. In the meantime, the regulations related to greening are becoming stricter and the return on the relevant investments is also less favorable, which also contributes to the continent’s competitive disadvantage.
European industry is constantly being dismantled, (…) if we continue on this path, making Europe carbon dioxide neutral may become a reality, but the price of this will be that European industry will cease to exist.
According to the leader, Europe is uncompetitive without a competitive industry, East-Central Europe has many opportunities in this regardhowever, their exploitation only partially depends on the company – the prospects also depend on whether the governments can accept that competition is a favorable factor, which is a forward-looking goal to support.
THE region and Hungary’s competitiveness said that national budgets are under pressure, the special taxes and other market-distorting measures introduced in 2022 to finance increased energy costs are still in effect today, as a result of which the Mol Group paid out a total of 3.1 billion dollars in 2022-23 as an extra deduction to the state coffers.
As is known, the government currently expects the players of the domestic fuel market to keep Hungarian gasoline and diesel prices in the old middle range, if the players do not manage to achieve this, the government can intervene.
Not mentioning this specific development, but in general it is state interventions regarding this, the manager said that these can significantly affect the feasibility of the company’s plans. According to him, it is important to be aware that a competitive Mol means a competitive Hungary and also a competitive region.
In mid-March, Mol published its updated long-term strategy, with which the company aims to achieve by 2050 carbon neutral operation. In this regard, Hernádi emphasized that the green transition must be implemented in such a way that it does not endanger the company’s essential operation in terms of energy supply. As an important element of the efforts related to the green transition, the Mol group recently handed over the green hydrogen plant with the largest capacity in the region, in addition, the company also handles waste management in Hungary (MOHU) – this activity does not yet contribute to the company’s financial results, but within a few years, thanks to synergy effects, this situation will changesaid József Molnár, the company’s CEO.
Mol pays a significant dividend
After the CEO’s opening speech, the shareholders present at the general meeting voted, among other things, on the payment of dividends, as a result
Mol will pay almost HUF 198 billion in dividends to shareholders after last year’s results
(it is exactly HUF 197,958,824,000). By the way, the dividend amount itself is lower than the dividends of the last two years, but it can still be said to be outstanding. The amount of the basic dividend per share will be the same as last year’s level at HUF 150, in addition to this, the oil company will pay an additional extraordinary dividend of around HUF 100 per share. This is based on the current share price 8.3 percent dividend yield corresponds to.
Compared to the average dividend weight of the past business years, Mol pays a much higher dividend, but it is a lower amount than the 2021 and 2022 payments.
It is worth looking at the company to see who will get from this nearly HUF 198 billion ownership structure. As you can see, more than half of the shares belong to the public sector, in addition, the company’s employee share ownership program is listed with an ownership ratio of 8 percent, OTP is also present as a major shareholder in the company, while the remaining more than 30 percent ownership share is in the hands of various foundations.
Among the major owners of the company, we can therefore see three foundations, they together receive 60.4 billion forints from the dividend after last year, but almost 10.4 billion forints also go to OTP, and more than 15.7 billion for Mol employees was the dividend, and institutional investors and small shareholders received nearly HUF 112 billion.
Cover image source: MARK_KISS
