As part of the new targets, the SSE board expects to recommend to shareholders a final dividend of 39.9p per share in respect of the year ending March 31, 2007, compared with 32.7p in the 2005/06 financial year, an increase of 22%. This will make a full year dividend of 55p, compared with 46.5p last year, an increase of 18.3%.
This increase is also designed to provide a significantly higher base for future dividend growth. From this new, higher base, SSE’s target will be to deliver at least 4% real growth in the dividend paid to shareholders in respect of 2007/08, 2008/09 and 2009/10. Thereafter, SSE expects to continue to deliver at least sustained real growth in the dividend.
This new policy replaces SSE’s existing dividend targets, which were to deliver at least 4% real growth in the dividend payable to shareholders in respect of 2006/07 and 2007/08, with sustained real growth thereafter.
Meanwhile, SSE will also tell investors and analysts that it has now achieved over 7.7 million energy supply-related customers – an increase of 200,000 since its interim results in November 2006 and of one million since the start of the current financial year on April 1, 2006.
