Dividend Stock: Vedanta-led Hindustan Zinc to consider second interim payout on December 6

Hindustan Zinc Ltd., in which Anil Agarwal-led Vedanta Ltd. has a majority stake, will hold a board meeting on Wednesday, December 6, to consider a second interim dividend.

The record date for the second interim dividend, if any, has been fixed as December 14, 2023.

A record date means shareholders who own shares of the company at that particular date will be eligible for the dividend payout.

Earlier, Hindustan Zinc had announced its first interim dividend of ₹7 per share in July. This was the lowest dividend payout issued by the company since 2018. For the financial year 2023, the company declared a total dividend of ₹75.5 for the full year.

CNBC-TV18 reported that the final dividend announcement in March had drained the company of all its cash.

As per the September quarter shareholding pattern, Vedanta holds a 64.92% stake in Hindustan Zinc, most of which is pledged.

Interestingly, this board meeting and the record date come right ahead of Vedanta's debt repayment deadline. The mining major has repayments worth $1 billion lined up in January 2024.

Vedanta Chairman Anil Agarwal told CNBC-TV18 that the company has all the options open when it comes to debt repayments.

"We have a payment due in January and August. We are completely lined up and we have made a plan with the bondholders and we will be announcing shortly," Agarwal told CNBC-TV18's Nigel D'Souza on October 3 this year.

Shares of Hindustan Zinc have underperformed the Nifty Metal index so far in 2023. The stock is down 7.7% so far this year, compared to the Nifty Metal, which is up 3%.