(Yicai Global) June 24 -- Kweichow Moutai’s stock price jumped to a more than five-month high after the Chinese liquor giant announced its most generous dividend since going public more than 20 years ago.

Shares of Kweichow Moutai [SHA: 600519] ended 2.7 percent up at CNY2,009 (USD300) each today, the highest closing price since Jan. 5, with a market capitalization of CNY2.5 trillion (USD374.1 billion).

The Guizhou-based company will distribute a total of CNY27.2 billion (USD4.1 billion) to shareholders, or CNY21.68 (USD3.24) per share, according to its 2021 profit distribution plan unveiled late yesterday.

The annual dividend is CNY3 billion (USD448 million) more than last year’s handout and accounts for almost 52 percent of Kweichow Moutai’s net profit in 2021, thereby maintaining the same dividend payout ratio as the previous year.

The baijiu maker has paid 22 dividends since its initial pubic offering in Shanghai in 2001, paying out a total of CNY148.6 billion (USD22.2 billion). The firm’s shares have been the most expensive in the Chinese mainland for many years, earning stable returns for investors. The company was founded in 1999.

Kweichow Moutai reported a 12.3 percent leap in net profit to CNY52.5 billion last year. Operating revenue rose 11.7 percent to CNY109.5 billion. Chairman Ding Xiongjun predicted at a shareholders’ meeting on June 16 that revenue this year will jump 15 percent.

In the first quarter, profit soared almost 24 percent to CNY17.2 billion from a year earlier, with revenue up over 18 percent at CNY32.3 billion.

Editor: Futura Costaglione