Lex專欄：騰訊應(yīng)該更重視派息

US tech groups borrow to placate shareholders with cash. Chinese rivals issue dollar debt to build empires. Tencent, the $500bn gaming and social media group, last Thursday raised $5bn of new debt. Before splashing out on start-ups, it and Asian peers should consider payouts to shareholders.

美國科技集團(tuán)通過舉債用現(xiàn)金安撫股東。而他們的中國競爭對手發(fā)行美元債以建立企業(yè)帝國。市值達(dá)5000億美元的游戲和社交媒體集團(tuán)騰訊(Tencent)上周四發(fā)行了50億美元新債。在向初創(chuàng)企業(yè)砸錢之前，騰訊及其亞洲同行應(yīng)該考慮向股東派發(fā)股息。

Tencent put 11 per cent of its Rmb61bn ($9.5bn) net income into dividends and buybacks in the 12 months to September. Apple and Oracle pay out a quarter as dividends on top of substantial buybacks.

在截至去年9月的12個(gè)月間，騰訊將其610億元人民幣(合95億美元)凈利潤中的11%投入了股息和股票回購。蘋果(Apple)和甲骨文(Oracle)在大量回購之外，派發(fā)了四分之一的利潤作為股息。

Alibaba, which raised $7bn of dollar debt in November, pays no dividend. Its buybacks do little more than offset share issuance.

在去年11月發(fā)行了70億美元的美元債的阿里巴巴(Alibaba)，不支付股息。而其回購基本上只是抵消了股票發(fā)行。

Both Chinese and American groups have had trouble moving cash across borders. China restricts outflows, while US groups had faced taxation before recent changes eased the burden.

中美企業(yè)在跨境轉(zhuǎn)移資金方面都曾面臨困難。中國限制資本外流，而美國企業(yè)在近期稅改減輕負(fù)擔(dān)之前面臨征稅。

Dividends at Apple, Microsoft and Oracle yield roughly 1.5 per cent of their respective market cap — less than half of Hong Kong’s benchmark Hang Seng index. The surprise might be how little Tencent needs to do to catch up: $1.5bn of the bond proceeds would raise total capital returns this year to Apple’s dividend payout ratio.

蘋果、微軟(Microsoft)和甲骨文的股息收益率約為其各自市值的1.5%，不到香港基準(zhǔn)恒生指數(shù)(Hang Seng index)水平的一半。 人們可能會(huì)驚訝于騰訊無需太費(fèi)力就能趕上：15億美元的債券籌資所得將提高其今年的總資本回報(bào)率，達(dá)到蘋果的股息派發(fā)率。

Remember that Chinese tech groups are not as fresh as their recent ascent might suggest. Tencent was founded six years before Facebook.

請記住，中國的科技集團(tuán)并不像它們近年的崛起所暗示的那樣新。騰訊成立比Facebook還早6年。

Investors have little reason to complain, as share prices doubled in the past year. Leverage is not a problem. But, if Tencent paid out more cash, instead of risking to overpay for highly valued tech start-ups, they should be even happier.

投資者沒什么理由抱怨，因?yàn)槠涔蓛r(jià)在過去一年漲了一倍。杠桿不是問題。但如果騰訊能派發(fā)更多現(xiàn)金，而不是冒險(xiǎn)溢價(jià)投資于高估值的科技初創(chuàng)企業(yè)，他們應(yīng)該會(huì)更加快樂。