Russia: The annual shareholder meeting of Baltika Brewery has ratified dividends for 2004 totaling RUR1.908bn (approx. USD68.5m), or RUR13.94 (approx. USD0.5) per common share, and RUR18.12 (approx. USD0.65) per preferred share, the company's press service has reported.

According to a report of RosBusiness Consulting from March 30, the shareholder meeting has also approved the procedure of paying out dividends in two advances, the first advance scheduled for April 11, 2005, and the second for August 1, 2005. According to the company's statistics, dividends have grown by 4.5 times over past 5 years, while the size of dividend payments has grown by 20 percent since 2003.

E-malt.com, the global information source for the brewing and malting industry professionals. The bi-weekly E-malt.com Newsletters feature latest industry news, statistics in graphs and tables, world barley and malt prices, and other relevant information. Click here to get full access to E-malt.com. If you are a Castle Malting client, you can get free access to E-malt.com website and publications. Contact us for more information at marketing@castlemalting.com .