Ooohps3 Feb 2021 12:20
Quarterly dividends
The Board has declared a fourth interim dividend for 2020 of 23 pence per share (Q4 2019: 23 pence per share).
GSK recognises the importance of dividends to shareholders and aims to distribute regular dividend payments that will be determined primarily with reference to the free cash flow generated by the business after funding the investment necessary to support the Group's future growth.
The Board currently intends to maintain the dividend for 2021 at the current level of 80p per share, subject to any material change in the external environment or performance expectations.
At our Biopharma investor update in June we plan to set out in detail the growth prospects and financial outlook for the new Biopharma company over the medium term, including a detailed review of the pipeline we have been building over recent years. Alongside these we will provide details of a new distribution policy which reflects the optimised capital structure and investment priorities focused on delivering sustainable long-term shareholder value. We anticipate that this new policy will deliver competitive and attractive returns informed by appropriate earnings pay-out ratios through the investment cycle well covered by Free Cash Flow and, importantly, expected growth potential. We expect that aggregate distributions for GSK will be lower than at present. This new policy will be implemented for dividends paid in respect of 2022.
Payment of dividends
The equivalent interim dividend receivable by ADR holders will be calculated based on the exchange rate on 6 April 2021. An annual fee of $0.03 per ADS (or $0.0075 per ADS per quarter) is charged by the Depositary.
The ex-dividend date will be 18 February 2021, with a record date of 19 February 2021 and a payment date of 8 April 2021.