(Yicai) Feb. 7 -- Huawei Technologies reportedly intends to give staff the smallest dividend since 2019 under the Chinese tech giant’s employee stock ownership plan.

The dividend will be CNY1.50 (21 US cents) a share, The Paper reported today, citing the Shenzhen-based firm's plans. Payment will be made in March and April, Huawei staff told The Paper.

The company, which is wholly owned by its employees, has about 51.3 billion shares outstanding, making for a total payout of CNY77.1 billion (USD10.7 billion) and about CNY540,000 (USD76,000) per employee.

The smaller dividend likely reflects the financial pressure and challenges Huawei could face going forward, according to analysts. 

Huawei founder Ren Zhengfei has shares in the firm as a natural person and he also participates in the ESOP, which has been in place since Huawei was set up in 1987 and is implemented through the Union of Huawei Investment and Holding. Some 142,315 workers were in the plan as of the end of 2022, according to the firm’s earnings report for that year.

Last month, Rotating Chairman Ken Hu said the company’s operations have basically returned to normal and revenue from sales was likely more than CNY700 billion (USD97 billion) last year.

Huawei had a net profit of CNY46.5 billion (USD6.5 billion) in the first half of 2023, up 218 percent from CNY14.6 billion a year earlier, according to its semi-annual financial report. Revenue rose 3.2 percent to CNY308.3 billion from CNY298.7 billion.

Editor: Martin Kadiev