ThyssenKrupp vows to resume dividend payments

German heavy industry giant ThyssenKrupp promised its shareholders Friday to resume paying dividends, but did not gave any indication about when it might do so. "We are on the right path and have achieved measurable successes," chief executive Heinrich Hiesinger told the group's annual shareholders meeting. "We ended the past fiscal year with a loss and are unable to pay a dividend to you, our shareholders. That must change, and it will change. That is what the executive board is committed to," Hiesinger said. ThyssenKrupp, which makes steel, elevators, industrial plant technology, submarines and car parts, is in the middle of a vast restructuring. It runs its business year from October to September and both sales and new orders were down in the 12 months to September 30, 2013. It also booked a net loss of 1.5 billion euros ($2.0 billion). In the current year, the group is targeting sales growth of a "mid-single digit percentage rate" and "significant improvement in annual earnings towards break-even," said Hiesinger. "We must and we will make ThyssenKrupp into a successful company again, generating regular profits that will improve our stock price and enable us to pay you, our shareholders, an attractive dividend again as soon as possible," he continued. The prospect of a possible dividend cheered investors and ThyssenKrupp shares were the biggest gainers on the Frankfurt stock exchange, adding 2.54 percent in mid-afternoon trading.