Since the war in Ukraine has caused high uncertainty related to Nokian Tyres’s operational environment and manufacturing capacity, the company expects to expedite its plans to invest in new production capacity in Europe. Therefore, the Board of Directors of Nokian Tyres has decided to change its dividend proposal to the Annual General Meeting to be held on April 28, 2022. The company continues to increase capacity at its factories in Finland and the US.
Nokian has provided updates and says it is in daily contact with our Ukrainian team. Over half of our Ukrainian employees are male and cannot leave the country, but it adds that it has assisted them in any way possible given the current situation. In addition, Nokian Tyres has made a donation to UNICEF to help the children in the war zone in Ukraine.
It is also accelerating the increase of capacity in our factories in Finland and in the US. According to the plan, all tyres sold in the Nordic countries in the future will be produced in Nokia, Finland, and all tyres sold in North America in the future will be produced in Dayton, US and in Nokia, Finland. The company is actively looking for additional capacity and aims to become geographically more diversified in its manufacturing operations.
All Nokian Tyres’ heavy tyres are designed and manufactured in Finland. Tyres for trucks and buses are designed in Finland and produced in the EU and it does not accept orders from Russia.
By continuing to operate the passenger car tyre factory in Russia, it says that it wants to make sure the factory is operated and controlled by Nokian Tyres also in the future but it will no longer invest into the Russian production.
The Board of Directors proposes that a dividend of EUR0.55 per share be paid from the financial year January 1–December 31, 2021, i.e. approximately EUR76.1 million in total based on the total number of outstanding shares of Nokian Tyres at the time of the proposal. The proposed dividend corresponds to the minority dividend pursuant to Chapter 13, Section 7 of the Finnish Companies Act, i.e. eight per cent of the shareholders’ equity.
The dividend is proposed to be paid to the shareholders who are registered in the company’s shareholder register maintained by Euroclear Finland Oy on the dividend record date of May 2, 2022. The payment date proposed by the Board of Directors is May 11, 2022.
The Board of Directors’ earlier dividend proposal from the financial year January 1–December 31, 2021 announced on February 8, 2022 was EUR1.32 per share payable in two instalments.
According to the financial statements for the financial year January 1–December 31, 2021, the distributable funds of Nokian Tyres amounted to EUR742.7 million.