MMK to pay $716 million in 2005 dividends

Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (MMK), Russia's largest steelmaker, said today that it would pay $716 million in 2005 dividends to its shareholders. The company said its annual shareholder session had decided to pay Ruble 5,655,277,891.20 (about $250.5 million) in 2005 dividends, or Ruble 0.532 ($0.019) per ordinary nominal share of 1 Ruble nominal value. This figure does not include interim payment for the six months of 2005 totaling Ruble 0.655 ($0.024) per share and Ruble 0.667 ($0.024) per share for the nine months of 2005. Therefore, 2005 dividends total Ruble1.854 ($0.067) per ordinary nominal share.