Businessman Denis O'Brien said on Tuesday that he is in "no rush" to resume dividends at mobile operator Digicel, but will probably return to dividend over the next year or two.
Speaking on Bloomberg TV, Mr O’Brien said that Digicel, of which he is the principal shareholder, is still “highly profitable” and that he will keep investing heavily in the Caribbean and South Pacific mobile operator, including buying other businesses.
However, a dividend is not on the cards, for the moment at least. In April, Mr O’Brien said he had waived about $20 million (€ 17.5m) of cash dividends last year.
“In the last 18 months, two years, we’ve spent more than $1 billion on capex. It seems out of kilter to be paying a dividend to myself. We probably will in the next year, two years, but there’s no rush for that at all,” he told Bloomberg TV.
In the interview, Mr O’Brien said that a “little bit of skittishness” remains in the corporate debt markets, but he added that the market is growing a “bit more solid”.
Last October an initial public offering of Digicel shares was pulled, citing global volatility. The company was seeking to raise up to $2 billion to help lower its debt mountain, expand its operations and list on the New York Stock Exchange.
