Realizacja prawa do dywidendy przez akcjonariuszy spółek wchodzących w skład indeksu giełdowego WIG 20

Abstract

Growing profits are an obvious reason for company shareholders to claim one of their basic ownership rights, that is, the right to receive dividends. Over the last few years this regular trend has been especially visible in the case of the largest companies listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange. As a result of Poland’s improving economic situation the companies have been generating increasing profits and their shareholders have been exercising the right to receive dividend payments in ever increasing amounts. The article presents an analysis of how the right to receive dividends was exercised by shareholders in the WIG 20 companies listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange in the period between 2001 and 2005. The article also discusses the motives behind their decisions to pay out dividends. The study is preceded with a description of the regulations that govern the payment of dividends from joint stock companies under the Polish legal system.