The board of directors of the Company has proposed a final dividend of 6.40 HK cents per share for 2008 and also proposed to give shareholders the option of receiving part or all of the final dividends in form of new shares in lieu of cash dividend. The scrip dividend proposal will be conditional on the approval of the proposed final dividend at the forthcoming annual general meeting of the Company. Together with the interim dividend of 1.00 HK cent per share, the total dividend for the year of 2008 will be 7.40 HK cents per share, up 17% year-on-year.
Mr. Zhang Fusheng, Chairman of COSCO International, reported the Group's results and said, 'In 2008, global economy growth declined greatly due to the subprime crisis in the United States and the global financial tsunami. China's GDP growth rate has also recorded a noticeable slow down and the global trade volume has decreased sharply since the fourth quarter of the year. This led to a great reduction in new ship build orders and contraction in demand for container coatings. Facing such difficult market conditions, the Group, however, still continued its development in its strategic positioning of shipping services as its core business and strengthened its management and developed new markets. Meanwhile, by capitalising on the thriving shipping market in the first half of 2008 and deliveries of numerous new ships, all businesses in the segment of shipping services recorded a solid growth in terms of turnover with the exception of container coatings, thus giving rise to a steady performance of the Group's results as a whole.'
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