The Board and the management of the Group aim at all times at keeping the Company’s equity and other financing adapted to the Company’s objective, strategy and risk profile. The Group’s business is of such a nature that modest equity is required to conduct the business, however, the Board continuously evaluates the equity position of the Company.
RS Platou's objective is to yield a competitive return on invested capital to the shareholders through a combination of distribution of dividends and increase in share price. When evaluating the amount of dividend payable, the Board of Directors places emphasis on certainty, foreseeability and stable development, the Company's dividend capacity, the requirements for sound and optimal equity capital as well as adequate financial resources to enable future growth and investments, applicable legal or contractual restrictions and the desire to minimize the cost of capital. The Company will pay dividends directly to the VPS Registrar, which has undertaken, in turn, to distribute the dividends to the beneficial shareholders as registered in VPS.
To ensure flexibility in the Group’s capital structure and capital management, the Board of Directors has been granted authorisation to repurchase own shares by the Annual General Meeting. The General Meeting has authorised the Board of Directors to acquire own shares for a total face value of 1,024,279, corresponding to 10% of the Company’s share capital. In addition, the Board of Directors has been authorized to increase the share capital of the Company by NOK 1,024,279 by issuance of new shares. Both of the above mentioned authorizations are valid until the next annual general meeting in 2012.