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Business at SAP
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Substantial dividend increase recommended
SAP wishes to continue its dividend policy of recent years and
believes its shareholders should again benefit appropriately
from the Company’s success in the fiscal year. As before, the
SAP Executive Board and SAP Supervisory Board believe that
the dividend should reflect SAP’s sustainable profitability.
Earnings per share and pro-forma earnings per share both rose
steeply in 2004, and the Executive Board and Supervisory Board
will recommend a dividend of €1.10 per share to the Annual
General Meeting of Shareholders, which would be a 37.5%
increase over the previous year’s dividend of €0.80. As a percentage,
the recommended dividend increase is greater than
the increase in income, conveying the Executive Board’s confidence
in the sustainability of the Company’s earning power.
If the shareholders approve this recommendation
and treasury shares remain at the 2004 year-end level, the
provisional total amount distributed in dividends would be
€341.7 million. This dividend payout ratio (defined as the ratio
between total distributed dividends and net income) would rise
from 23 % in 2003 to 26 % in 2004 on the basis of the provisional
total amount distributed in dividends. The actual amount
distributed is expected to be different from the provisional total
because the number of shares held in treasury will probably
change before the Annual General Meeting of Shareholders.
Transactions related to stock-based compensation could also
change the amount of capital stock. Aside from the distributed
dividend, the Company also returned €141 million to the
shareholders by buying back SAP shares in 2004. |
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