Finnish cruise ferry owner Viking Line has cancelled its 2019 dividend as the coronavirus pandemic hit passenger operations.
The company said it decided to change its payout proposal at the annual general meeting (AGM), so that nothing is handed over to shareholders.
Viking Line had been due to pay out €0.45 ($0.51) per share for 2019, up from a €0.20 payout for the prior year.
Based on its 10.8m outstanding shares, this would save it $5.5m.
A spate of companies have been cancelling dividends in recent days, including Pangaea Logistics Solutions, DFDS and Stolt-Nielsen.
AP Moller-Maersk has retained its payout, as has Norwegian owner Ocean Yield, which warned of lower amounts being returned to investors.
Profit forecast worthless
Earlier this month, Viking Line tore up the profit guidance it had given just the week before.
The ferry owner is also postponing the AGM to an unspecified time.
On 11 March, it had said: "As a result of the coronavirus (Covid-19), operating conditions in our markets have deteriorated significantly.
"It is still too soon to quantify the impact on results since there is great uncertainty regarding developments. Therefore, our earlier business performance outlook no longer applies."
Viking Line has cancelled some sailings, but is still running a service from Finland to Sweden on the Turku-Aland-Stockholm route to safeguard the "security of supply".
The company is also continuing to operate between Estonia and Finland six days per week.
In its annual results published in March, the shipowner said it had expected stable passenger numbers and higher sales per guest this year.
The company was at that point expecting operating income for 2020 to be on a par with 2019.
The Jan Hanses-led owner of seven cruise ferries posted $6.6m in net profit last year, against $8.8m during 2018.
Revenue came in at $496m, down slightly from $498m in 2018, and expenses declined from $499m to $479m.
