Apr 15, 2013
Translated by Chi Yi
Usually listed companies pay cash or stocks to their shareholders as dividends but the Shenzhen-listed Guangxi Nanfang Foodstuff Group Stock Co., Ltd (南方食品) has decided to do something a little different and reward investors with what in the industry is called a "property dividend" (实物分红) - in this case cans of sesame seed paste.
According to reports in the mainland media, Nanfang Foodstuff announced last week that they'll be rewarding investors with cans of sesame paste in what's being described as the first payment of its kind in China.
The company announcement says any investor with more than 1,000 of the company's shares will be offered a gift package of sesame paste (12 cans) for every thousand shares they have.
This means that the fund ChinaAmc (华夏基金), one of Southern Foods biggest shareholders, is qualified to recieve over 60,000 jars of the black paste that can be eaten as a dessert on its own or used as a sweetening ingredient in Chinese cooking.
The CEO of the company said the exact number of its shareholders is still being calculated.
It's currently estimated that somewhere between 12,000 to 13,000 people are qualified to receive the unexpected gift.
All they need to do is fill out an application according to the company's requirements. The company's generous offer also still needs the approval of a shareholders meeting set to take place on Apr 19.
Some argue that being paid a dividend in goods is better than receiving cash in that investors are not required to pay any tax on the transaction.
However, others note that investors are being given 200 yuan worth of sesame paste in return for each 12,000 yuan worth of stock they hold, which doesn't really amount to much at all.
Later the company posted another announcement, clarifying that the sesame paste offered to shareholders is a new product and that the the whole initiative is part of a campaign to promote the new product.
Links and Sources
Chutian Metropolis Daily: A股首现“实物分红”