Alaska’s largest regional Native corporation will distribute around $16 million to its shareholders later this month.
Sealaska Corp.’s approximately 22,000 tribal members will each get between $129 and $1,082, depending on their status. Shareholders are mostly Tlingits, Haidas and Tsimshians from or with relatives from Southeast Alaska.
CEO Anthony Mallott said the distribution has remained somewhat steady for a few years. But it’s depressed because of one year of large construction business losses.
“I know we’ve made statements to the shareholders that because of 2013 and the negative results that occurred then, because of the five-year averaging within our operations distributions, that that particular dividend source would stay low,” he said.
The Juneau-headquartered corporation will detail 2015’s profits and losses in an annual report to be released later this spring.
The majority of Sealaska shareholders, who are also members of urban Native corporations, will get dividends of $953. Members of village Native corporations and descendants of original shareholders will receive just $129. Elders receive an additional $129.
The difference is the distribution of a pool of resource earnings from other regional Native corporations.
About half is from oil earnings by the Arctic Slope Regional Corp. The other half is from zinc-mining profits by the NANA regional corporation.
CEO Mallott said both will drop in the future.
“We are actively preparing and have been letting our shareholders know with the decline in oil, we expect less from ASRC and there has been a decline in zinc prices as well,” he said.
All figures are rounded off and based on ownership of 100 shares.
The shareholders’ distribution was announced Friday during a meeting of Sealaska’s board of directors.
This report has been updated with quotes from Sealaska CEO Anthony Mallott.
