Lex專欄：騰訊應該更重視派息

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5000億美元的游戲和社交媒體集團騰訊(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)在近期稅改減輕負擔之前面臨征稅。

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%，不到香港基準恒生指數(shù)(Hang Seng index)水平的一半。 人們可能會驚訝于騰訊無需太費力就能趕上：15億美元的債券籌資所得將提高其今年的總資本回報率，達到蘋果的股息派發(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，因為其股價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，而不是冒險溢價投資于高估值的科技初創(chuàng)企業(yè)，他們應該會更加快樂。