Celltrion Group announced Wednesday that its board of directors has approved dividend plans for both Celltrion (068270.KS) and Celltrion Pharmaceutical (068760.KS) for this year. The dividends will be finalized at each company's annual general shareholders' meeting next year and distributed to shareholders, with the record date set for December 31.
Celltrion declared a cash dividend of 750 won per common share. The total dividend payout amounts to approximately 164 billion won ($121 million), the largest in the company's history. The dividend was calculated based on approximately 218.61 million shares, excluding about 12.35 million treasury shares from the total 230.96 million issued shares.
In March, the company converted approximately 620 billion won in capital reserves to retained earnings, securing tax-free dividend resources for a capital reduction dividend. By utilizing this for dividends, shareholders are exempt from the 15.4% dividend income tax, effectively increasing their actual dividend returns. Additionally, a bonus share issue of 0.04 new shares per existing share was conducted in May, adding approximately 4% in stock dividend effect. The new shares allocated through this year's bonus issue are also included in the cash dividend distribution.
Combining the cash dividend, treasury share cancellation, and treasury share buyback range decided this time, Celltrion is deploying nearly 2 trillion won toward shareholder-friendly policies this year. Previously, the Celltrion Group purchased 1.9 trillion won worth of Celltrion shares at the group level, and Celltrion cancelled 900 billion won worth of treasury shares. These figures exceed by several times the 40% three-year average target for 2027 presented in the company's value-up program at the beginning of the year.
On the same day, Celltrion Pharmaceutical declared a cash dividend of 200 won per common share plus a stock dividend of 0.02 shares. The dividend will be distributed to approximately 43.42 million shares, excluding treasury shares from total issued shares.
"This dividend decision reflects the company's confidence in sustained growth and firm commitment to growing together with shareholders, even as we prepare for large-scale expansion investments," a Celltrion Group official said.
Meanwhile, Celltrion's board also approved a capital increase of approximately 782.4 billion won for Celltrion USA to acquire Eli Lilly's biopharmaceutical production facility in Branchburg, New Jersey. Celltrion USA, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Celltrion, will lead the U.S. facility acquisition and use the secured funds for facility acquisition and plant operations. The capital increase will be conducted in two phases: the first phase of approximately 655.5 billion won on December 18, and the second phase of approximately 126.9 billion won next year. Celltrion plans to complete the U.S. production facility acquisition within this year and immediately begin contract manufacturing organization (CMO) supply of Eli Lilly's drug substance (DS) upon completion.
