Shareholders in Ørsted and Novo Nordisk have much to rejoice today, as both companies have decided to issue big dividends following the declaration of record profits.
While Ørsted will divvy up 5.7 billion kroner, Novo is going to hand out 14.8 billion – not bad for shareholders who shared 7.5 billion last August.
Handy sale accounted for large share
Energy giant Ørsted, which has almost completely weaned itself off gas (the Dong Energy Days) to concentrate solely on renewables, has announced a record operating profit of 32 billion kroner for 2022 – a substantial increase on the 7.8 billion declared in 2021.
It attributed the improvement to the partial sale of the offshore windfarm Hornsea 2, which brought in just over 10 billion kroner.
Diabetes and obesity treatments weighing in
Meanwhile, a post-tax profit of 55.5 billion kroner on sales of 177 billion – a 26 percent increase on 2021 – has prompted Novo Nordisk to predict growth of 13-19 percent for 2023.
Treatments for diabetes and obesity accounted for the lion’s share: a 29 percent rise to 156.4 billion, fuelled by a 35 percent jump in North American sales.
