三星承諾大幅增加派息

Samsung Electronics has pledged to boost its 2016 dividend payout more than a third to Won4tn ($3.5bn) and consider restructuring as it seeks to ease investors’ anxieties over meagre returns and poor corporate governance.

三星電子(Samsung Electronics)已承諾將2016年的股利支出提高逾三分之一，至4萬億韓元(合35億美元)，并考慮重組。該集團正尋求緩解投資者對于低回報和糟糕公司治理的擔憂。

The moves, which fall short of a proposal last month by activist hedge fund Elliott Management, were positively received by analysts, who suggested that the South Korean group was edging towards overdue reform.

這些舉措雖然沒有達到維權(quán)投資者——對沖基金埃利奧特管理公司(Elliott Management)上月提出的要求，但分析師們反應(yīng)積極，認為這家韓國集團正在逐漸推進早該進行的改革。

In October, Elliott launched a campaign for a slice of Samsung’s $60bn cash pile by calling for a special $27bn payout to shareholders. Elliott, which at the time revealed a $1.2bn stake in the company, also proposed that the group split into holding and operating companies — a development widely seen as necessary to improve corporate governance while allowing the founding Lee family to retain control.

10月，埃利奧特發(fā)起了要求三星從600億美元累積現(xiàn)金向股東返還一部分的努力，提議三星進行一筆270億美元的特別派息。當時披露擁有三星12億美元股份的埃利奧特還提議，將該機構(gòu)分拆為控股公司和運營公司——這種安排被廣泛視為改善公司治理，同時讓創(chuàng)立三星的李氏家族保持控制的必要之舉。

The company responded yesterday by announcing it had undertaken a review to determine “what is the right corporate structure”, a process it said would take at least six months.

昨日，三星回應(yīng)稱，已著手評估，以確定“什么是正確的公司結(jié)構(gòu)”，三星稱這個過程至少需要6個月。

The developments come at a difficult time for Samsung Electronics. In October, the group took a $5bn hit when it axed its newly released Galaxy Note 7 after some handsets caught fire.

出現(xiàn)這些動向之際，三星電子陷入困難時期。今年10月，由于一些上架銷售不久的Galaxy Note 7起火，三星停產(chǎn)這款手機，蒙受了50億美元的損失。

More recently, the company has been ensnared in South Korea’s political ­crisis. Its headquarters in Seoul were raided this month following allegations it had funnelled millions of euros into foundations run by a close friend of South Korea’s president. Samsung confirmed the raid but has offered no further comment on the matter.

最近，三星還卷入了韓國的政治危機。在被指向韓國總統(tǒng)的密友執(zhí)掌的基金會輸送數(shù)百萬歐元后，三星在首爾的總部本月遭到突擊搜查。三星承認遭到搜查，但未對此事進一步置評。

Under the new plan, the company will commit 50 per cent of its free cash flow to shareholder returns in both 2016 and 2017 and increase this year’s dividends per share by 36 per cent year on year. “The rest of the 50 per cent of free cash flow will be returned in the form of shareholder buybacks starting January in 2017,” it said.

根據(jù)新的計劃，三星將在2016年和2017年將50%的自由現(xiàn)金流返還股東，并將今年的每股股息同比提高36%。“剩余的50%自由現(xiàn)金流將從2017年1月起以股票回購形式返還，”三星表示。

Elliott had proposed that the company issue a one-off dividend payment of Won30tn and return 75 per cent of its free cash flow to shareholders.

埃利奧特建議三星進行30萬億韓元的一次性派息，并將75%的自由現(xiàn)金流返還股東。