D&L Industries Inc. announced Monday the election of former National Economic and Development Authority Secretary Karl Kendrick Chua as an independent director of the company.
Chua replaced businessman Filemon Berba who served on D&L’s board from 2012 until his passing on April 4.
“We are pleased to welcome Karl to our board of directors. He brings a fresh perspective with his distinguished experience as an economist, working for the World Bank for over a decade and serving the government in various strategic leadership roles thereafter,” D&L president and chief executive Alvin Lao said.
D&L said with the election of Chua, four of seven seats or a majority of the board continued to be held by independent directors.
The three other independent directors are Atty. Mercedita Nolledo, Corazon de la Paz-Bernardo and Dr. Lydia Balatbat-Echauz.
“With independent directors continuing to hold a majority of our board, the company remains committed to upholding good governance and transparency,” Lao said.
Chua was previously with the World Bank as an economist, and more recently as National Economic and Development Authority chief and undersecretary of the Department of Finance.
He has extensive experience in the areas of economic and fiscal policy, statistical development, national identification, labor and social protection policy, poverty analysis and digital transformation, among others.
D&L announced during the company’s annual stockholders meeting a record dividend payout of P0.30 per share consisting of a regular cash dividend of P0.24 per share plus a special cash dividend of P0.06 to shareholders of record as of June 20.
Payment will be made on July 14.
This year’s dividend amounting to P2.14 billion, which represents a 25-percent increase over last year’s P1.71 billion, is equivalent to 65 percent of the last year’s recurring income.
D&L said the management remained highly committed to its dividend policy of a 50-percent payout ratio based on prior year’s net income.
D&L declared special dividends for three years in a row since it was paused in 2020 due to the uncertainties brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic.