Farmer Business Developments pledges €8.6m special dividend

More than 4,000 shareholders in Farmer Business Developments plc received an €8.6 million dividend special dividend for 2023, bringing their total payouts for the year to €2,696 each.

The farmer-owned investment holding company, whose businesses include insurance and hotels, confirmed on Wednesday that it paid a special end-year special dividend last month worth 17 cent a-share to its 4,050 ordinary shareholders.

The once-off payment totalled €8.6 million and brought total dividends for the year to 26 cent a-share.

Chairman Pat Murphy calculated that shareholders received €13 million in all from Farmer Business Developments in 2023.

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“For our most common shareholders, who today hold 10,369 shares based on their IRE£50 (€63) original investment in FBD in the late 1960s, the total dividends paid in 2023 were worth €2,696 before dividend withholding tax,” he said.

A special dividend from FBD Holdings in October prompted the board to make the payout to backers.

“On this occasion, the board paid out slightly over 100 per cent of the funds received in order to round up the special dividend to 17 cent per share,” added Mr Murphy.

The chairman noted that all holders of ordinary shares qualified for the year-end special dividend, including 309 investors who bought 3.26 million shares in the autumn at €1.91 each.

Mr Murphy explained that where Farmer Business Developments received exceptional payments, the board always considered paying special dividends to shareholders “having regard to the needs of the company at the time of the declaration of any such dividend”.

The company paid the cash to shareholders on December 20th by electronic transfer or by post over Christmas based on its record of shareholders on November 3rd last year.

Farmer Business Developments owns 27.8 per cent of the listed FBD Holdings, whose main business is FBD Insurance, all of FBD Hotels and Resorts and other investments, including development land close to Berlin’s new airport.