PG Group, the company which runs the PAVI and PAMA shopping malls and supermarkets in Qormi and Mosta respectively, is set to distribute a net interim dividend of €2.75 million.

The dividend, announced on Wednesday, will be equivalent to €0.0254630 net (€0.0391738 gross) per ordinary share.

It will be paid on Monday 11th December 2023 to the ordinary shareholders who are on PG plc’s register of members as maintained at the Central Securities Depository at the Malta Stock Exchange as at Saturday 2nd December 2023.

PG Group is an investment company with a number of ventures spread across the Maltese Islands. It has steadily grown its operations over the years, and now has around 350 employees. Aside from PAVI and PAMA, it is also the franchisee of ZARA and ZARA Home in Sliema and Mosta.

The issue of the dividend comes after the company recorded €18.9 million in operating profit during the last financial year, which ended on 30th April 2023. Profit before tax amounted to €17.6 million, a 5.4 per cent increase from the €16.7 million registered in the previous financial year.

This increase in profitability largely came about after an 18.3 per cent surge in turnover, coming in at €173.9 million.

When the financial results were announced back in August, PG Group Chairman John B. Zarb said that they “exceeded expectations”, amid challenges posed by rising inflation. During the financial year, PAVI and PAMA supermarkets brought in more than 3.5 million customers, an increase of 14 per cent from the previous year and equivalent to just under 10,000 customers per day.

During the financial year, PG Group distributed a total of €6.8 million in dividends, equivalent to 53.3 per cent of its net profit for the year. Back in August, the company’s Board of Directors stated that it remains “committed to its policy of distributing half of its annual post-tax profits by way of dividends”, and that the financing of new projects is undertaken in a manner that “does not prejudice the regular payment of dividends”.