Samsung Corning Precision Materials handed out stock dividends that were almost double the net profit of the company last year, industry sources said this week.

In 2012, the maker of display and electronics materials recorded an annual net profit of 1.35 trillion won, down by almost 40 percent from the previous year. Sales were at 3.2 trillion won, down approximately 30 percent on-year.

Despite the sluggish performance, shareholder dividends for last year stood at 2.1 trillion won, double the net profit.

Samsung Corning downplayed the figures, saying that in fiscal terms, the dividends handed out last year totaled 1.3 trillion won, excluding the year-end returns for 2011 and another 320 billion won that was distributed last March.

U.S.-based Corning is the biggest shareholder of Samsung Corning Precision Materials with a 49.4 percent stake, followed by Samsung Display with 42.6 percent. Hong Seok-hyun, chairman of JoongAng Media Network, holds 7.32 percent.

(jemmie@heraldcorp.com)