Mobarakeh Steel Made Close to 100,300 Billion Tomans, Yet Kept Shareholders' Dividend Capped Over War Damage (AGM, Sunday, 2 August 2026)

The annual and extraordinary general meetings of Mobarakeh Steel Company of Isfahan (symbol: Foolad), Iran's largest steel producer, were held on the morning of Sunday, 2 August 2026 (11 Mordad 1405) in Isfahan. For the fiscal year ended 20 March 2026 (29 Esfand 1404), shareholders approved a cash dividend of 55 rials per share, while earnings per share for the same symbol stand at 518 rials. In other words, of every 518 rials of profit the company generated, only 55 rials, 10.6 percent, reaches the shareholder. Company management tied that restraint directly to damage from enemy attacks, stating that under normal conditions a larger dividend would have been distributed.

Background

Mobarakeh Steel closed fiscal 1404 with a jump in profitability. According to the financial statements reviewed at the meeting and filed on Codal (Iran's official disclosure system), the parent company's net profit reached about 100,300 billion tomans. Citing the same Codal filing, ecoiran separately reported standalone net profit of "about 100,000 billion tomans." CEO Saeed Zarandi told the meeting that group crude steel (billet) output reached about 7,054,000 tons in fiscal 1404, the highest in the company's 33-year history, and that group exports reached 1.1 billion dollars, above the 1 billion dollar target.

Those results came, according to Zarandi's own remarks at the same meeting, as the company's natural gas price jumped from about 2,800 tomans early in his tenure to 11,200 tomans in Esfand 1403 (February-March 2025) and then to 16,500 tomans in Dey 1404 (December 2025-January 2026). In the same Codal filing, Mobarakeh Steel reported forgone profit from energy restrictions of close to 14,000 billion tomans.

The numbers

Per Sahmino's own tracked price data, the Foolad symbol has been halted for most sessions since 28 February 2026 (9 Esfand 1404): of 135 recorded sessions in that window through 5 August 2026, 103 sessions closed with the symbol suspended, nearly five months of a trading halt in the middle of one of the company's most profitable fiscal years.

Drivers

The first point is the direct link management drew between the war and the dividend. Eghtesad Online, reporting from the same meeting, quoted officials saying the dividend was set "based on damage from the war" and that "under normal conditions, the decision would have been to allocate more profit for distribution among shareholders." In other words, part of the profit that would ordinarily have been paid out in cash stayed inside the company this year.

The second point is where some of that retained profit is headed. According to Donya-e-Eqtesad, shareholders at the same meeting approved a 900 billion toman increase in the company's social responsibility budget, from 1,100 to 2,000 billion tomans, prioritizing participation in rebuilding areas damaged by enemy attacks; company officials described the increase as temporary, applying only to the current fiscal year. The AGM's official Codal filing records a broader line item: the combined ceiling for "social responsibility costs and the Sepahan Cultural and Sports Club" rose from 1,100 to 4,500 billion tomans, a figure that also covers sports and cultural spending and is not necessarily the same as Donya-e-Eqtesad's more specific social responsibility figure.

The third point is energy cost pressure. The jump in gas prices from 2,800 to 16,500 tomans, together with the 14,000 billion toman forgone profit from energy restrictions, created exactly the conditions that pushed management to retain profit inside the company, resources that must now cover both reconstruction and continued production through 1405.

Outlook

Capital market analysts generally read a low payout ratio alongside its stated reason: Mobarakeh Steel's 10.6 percent ratio, had it stemmed from a wish to retain resources for expansion, would have signaled something different from the same ratio set in response to a specific, disclosed crisis. On the Tehran Stock Exchange, a long halt on a heavyweight symbol like Foolad means the market's valuation lags the disclosed profit until trading reopens, a point Sahmino's earlier report on the rebar market and the Foolad symbol also noted. As explained in Sahmino's analysis of Samga's dividend, a dividend leaves the company's own assets rather than arriving as extra money; at Mobarakeh Steel, a larger share of that asset was consciously retained this year, with an official explanation attached.

Conclusion

Mobarakeh Steel set a 33-year production record in fiscal 1404, pushed exports above target, and generated close to 100,300 billion tomans in net profit, yet paid shareholders only 10.6 percent of earnings per share in cash, explicitly citing war damage and reconstruction needs. If one thing survives from this report, let it be this: at Mobarakeh Steel this year, the dividend decision is no longer purely a financial one; it is tied directly to the cost of war and reconstruction.

What to watch

Three things are worth following in the weeks and months ahead: when the Foolad symbol reopens after close to five months of suspension, and how the price reacts to this financial record; the company's semiannual reports on how the enlarged social responsibility budget is spent on reconstruction; and the path of gas prices and other energy inputs for the steel industry in 1405, which will directly affect whether this level of profitability can repeat. The live price is on the Foolad price page on Sahmino, and the AGM's resolutions are on the Sahmino events calendar.