WHAUP postpones its 2020 shareholder meeting and seek board approval on April 21 to pay interim dividends at 0.16 baht/share as planned

Bangkok – The board of WHA Utilities & Power Public Company Limited (WHAUP) has a resolution to indefinitely postpone the 2020 Annual General Meeting of shareholders (AGM) to prevent the impact from Covid-19 pandemic. It will seek approval during the board meeting on April 21 to pay interim dividends to shareholders at 0.16 baht/share as previously planned.

Mr. Niphon Bundechanan, Chief Executive Officer of WHA Utilities & Power Plc or WHAUP, reveals that the company’s board of directors has a resolution to indefinitely postpone the 2020 annual general shareholder meeting on April 24, 2020 due mainly to the escalating spread of Covid-19 virus in Thailand.

After the 2020 AGM postponement, if the Covid-19 crisis improves largely with expectation to end very soon, the WHAUP board will set a new date of AGM and agendas and then inform shareholders about the new shareholder meeting schedule.

Meanwhile, the company will hold a board meeting on April 21, 2020 to consider the interim dividend payment to shareholders. The management will propose the board to approve the interim dividend payment based on the criteria the board approved on Feb 28, 2020. At that time, the board approved the dividend payment on 2019 performance at 0.2525 baht/share, of which 0.0925 baht/share has already been paid to shareholders as an interim dividend. The company plans to pay additional interim dividend at 0.16 baht/share. The management will also propose the dates of closing shareholder register and dividend payment, which will be in the same timeframe proposed previously at the shareholder meeting.

The CEO of WHAUP also mentioned about the overall business this year that the company will continue to expand its business and develop new technology for water management solutions, which will serve customers in Thailand and Vietnam. It will also provide new water solutions such as the production of reclaimed water and demineralized water to respond to rising water demand due to the impact from water shortage this year, and this will be for sustainability of water usage in the medium to long term.

In Vietnam, after WHAUP acquired some stakes in two water companies last year, it is forecast that the company will realize full-year revenue from these investments. Moreover, it is looking for new opportunities in new infrastructure projects over there to build long-term sustainable growth.

Together with this, the company has plans to continuously expand its renewable energy business. It expects to secure new solar rooftop installation contracts and increase the electricity generating capacity based on shareholding proportion to 591 megawatt in 2020 from 559 megawatt at the end of 2019.