Synergy Grid declares P915 million cash dividends

MANILA, Philippines — Synergy Grid and Development Philippines Inc. (SGP) is set to pay out cash dividend totaling P914.68 million for the first quarter.

In a stock exchange filing, SGP said its board of directors approved the declaration of cash dividends for the first quarter in the amount of P0.1737 per share.

The cash dividends will be payable on April 13, 2023 to stockholders of record as of March 23, 2023.

SGP said the dividend payment would be sourced from the company’s unrestricted retained earnings in view of the dividends received from National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP), Pacifica21 Holdings Inc. and OneTaipan Holdings Inc.

SGP, a holding company listed on the Philippine Stock Exchange, indirectly controls 60 percent of the outstanding common shares of NGCP, with an effective common share interest of 40.2 percent.

The company, likewise, owns 203.2 million non-voting preferred shares of NGCP.

NGCP, which holds a 25-year concession and a 50-year Congressional franchise to expand and operate the country’s power transmission grid, is SGP’s sole operating asset.

It holds the sole and exclusive concession and franchise for the operation of the Philippines’ transmission network, linking power generators and distribution utilities to deliver electricity to power distributors and cooperatives nationwide.

The company is committed to invest approximately P440 billion over a 13-year period across 211 projects which are aimed to support the country’s growing electricity demand and make its power backbone continuously reliable.

Among the major projects, which NGCP is currently undertaking, is the P52-billion Mindanao-Visayas Interconnection Project (MVIP), which, once completed, will enable a one Philippine grid.

The MVIP will connect the Visayas and Mindanao grids through a high-voltage direct current system.