KUALA LUMPUR (Dec 29): Boustead Holdings Bhd has announced an interim dividend of 1.5 sen for its financial year ending Dec 31, 2022 (FY2022) — its first in four years.

The dividend will be paid on March 27, 2023 with a Feb 27 ex-date and a Feb 28 entitlement date, the group said in its Bursa Malaysia filing on Thursday (Dec 29).

Boustead Holdings, which saw Izaddeen Daud appointed as its new group chief executive officer last month, had not declared any dividend since 2018, with the last interim dividend declared in December 2018 at 1.5 sen.

This comes after the group reported a near-double net profit for its third quarter ended Sept 30, 2022 to RM99.6 million from RM55.7 million a year ago while its revenue dipped to RM3.67 billion from RM3.68 billion.

The increase in net profit was due to higher share of results from associates, arising from 20.85%-owned Affin Bank Bhd's contribution.

Affin Bank in October announced a single-tier special dividend of 18.09 sen per share following the divestment of a 63% stake it owned in Affin Hwang Asset Management Bhd that was completed on July 29.

Apart from the proposed special dividend, Affin Bank also proposed an interim dividend of 4.53 sen, amounting to RM100.2 million, for its FY2022.

The total special dividend amounted to RM400.2 million, about 28.23% of the total proceeds of RM1.42 billion from the divestment. Of the 18.09 sen special dividend, Affin Bank said 10.85 sen would be paid in cash and the remaining 7.24 sen could be elected to be reinvested in a new Affin Bank share pursuant to the dividend reinvestment plan.

Boustead Holdings' share price closed 1.5 sen or 2.46% higher at 62.5 sen on Thursday with a market capitalisation of RM1.26 billion.