Mizuho Financial Group, Inc. ("MHFG") hereby announces that MHFG resolved at the meeting of its Board of Directors held today to pay interim dividends on its common stock, with a record date of September 30, 2021, and to revise its estimates of the year-end and annual dividends per share of common stock for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2022, as set forth below.
1. Interim dividends for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2022
| Determined Items | Most recent estimates (announced on May 14, 2021) | Actual dividends for previous fiscal year (ended March 31, 2021) | |
| Record date | September 30, 2021 | September 30, 2021 | September 30, 2020 |
| Dividends per shareof common stock | JPY 40.0 | JPY 37.5 | JPY 37.5 (*) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Total amount of dividends | JPY 101,545 million | – | JPY 95,209 million |
| Effective date | December 7, 2021 | – | December 7, 2020 |
| Resource of dividends | Retained Earnings | – | Retained Earnings |
2. Revision of year-end and annual dividends estimates for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2022
| Dividends per share of common stock | |||
| Interim dividends | Year-end dividends | Annual dividends | |
| Previous estimates (A) | JPY 37.5 | JPY 37.5 | JPY 75.0 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Revised estimates (B) | – | JPY 40.0 | JPY 80.0 |
| Actual results for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2022 (B) | JPY 40.0 | – | – |
| Net change (B–A) | + JPY 2.5 | + JPY 2.5 | + JPY 5.0 |
| Actual results for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2021 | JPY 37.5 (*) | JPY 37.5 | JPY 75.0 (*) |
(*) MHFG conducted a share consolidation of common stock on the basis of one post-consolidation share per ten pre-consolidation shares effective as of October 1, 2020. The impact of the share consolidation is reflected in the interim dividends per share of common stock for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2021. Without the share consolidation, the interim dividends would have been JPY 3.75 per share. In addition, the impact from the share consolidation is reflected in the annual dividends per share of common stock for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2021.
3. Reasons
From the fiscal year ending March 31, 2022, we have been pursuing the optimum balance between capital adequacy, growth investment and enhancement of shareholder returns. In accordance with this new initiative, we set forth the shareholder return policy pursuant to which progressive dividends are our principal approach while also executing flexible and intermittent share buybacks; we determine the amount of dividends based on the perspective of achieving steady growth of our stable earnings base, taking into consideration a dividend payout ratio of 40% as a guide.
Considering the financial results to date and other factors based on our shareholder return policy, we determined to pay JPY 40.0 per share of common stock as the interim dividends for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2022, an increase of JPY 2.5 from the previously estimated JPY 37.5. Accordingly, we revised the year-end dividend estimates from the previously estimated JPY 37.5 to JPY 40.0 per share of common stock, for an increase of JPY 2.5. As a result, the annual dividends are estimated to be JPY 80.0 per share of common stock, an increase of JPY 5.0 from the previous estimates and the dividends paid for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2021.
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