Mizuho Financial Group, Inc. (MHFG) hereby announces that its Board of Directors has resolved today to increase the fiscal year–end dividends per share for its common stock by 0.50 yen from its most recent dividend estimates and pay the dividends as stated below. The record date for such dividends is March 31, 2015.
1. Dividend Detail
| Determined amount | Most recent dividend estimates (announced on January 30, 2015) | Actual dividends for previous fiscal year (ended March 31, 2014) | |
| Record date | March 31, 2015 | March 31, 2015 | March 31, 2014 |
| Dividend per share (Annual dividend) | JPY 4.00 (JPY 7.50) | JPY 3.50 (JPY 7.00) | JPY 3.50 (JPY 6.50) |
| Total amount of dividends | JPY 98,452 million | – | JPY 88,012 million |
| Effective date | June 4, 2015 | – | June 24, 2014 |
| Source of dividends | Retained earnings | – | Retained earnings |
2. Reasons
We are pursuing "strengthening of stable capital base" and "steady returns to shareholders" as our "disciplined capital management" policy. As a new policy to return profits to shareholders, starting from fiscal 2014, we have introduced a "steady dividend payout" policy setting a "dividend payout ratio on a consolidated basis of approximately 30%" as a guide for our consideration.
Based on the policy, considering the financial results for fiscal 2014 and other factors, we determined the fiscal year–end dividend per share for common stock to be 4.00 yen, an increase of 0.50 yen from our most recent dividend estimates. As a result, annual dividends for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2015 will be 7.50 yen per share of common stock, an increase of 1.00 yen from the previous fiscal year.