Minister: Metso dividends plan "inappropriate”
Heidi Hautala, the minister with responsibility for state ownership says that Metso seems incapable of seeing the big picture. She called on Metso to defend its plan to distribute dividends in the face of massive job cuts at an extraordinary general meeting.
State ownership minister Heidi Hautala pulled no punches in her reaction to a plan by the engineering company Metso to distribute shareholder dividends while preparing to cut hundreds of jobs in Finland. She said the idea was nothing short of inappropriate.
“I wonder why it is not possible to appreciate the big picture, which is very serious from the perspective of those people who are about to lose their jobs,” she declared.
On Tuesday the company announced plans to cull 630 jobs next year in an effort to save 30 million euros annually.
According to Hautala, Metso officials should explain at an extraordinary general meeting, how it strikes a balance between issuing dividends and the proposed job cuts. Government owns about ten percent of the Metso through a holding company.
“In my opinion in these circumstances it’s not possible to conclude these are two different matters; they should absolutely be considered jointly and the combination is inappropriate,” Hautala said.
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