Wienerberger to increase payout to shareholders

VIENNA (Reuters) - Wienerberger <WBSV.VI>, the world's largest brickmaker, plans to pay out more money to shareholders, aiming to distribute 20 to 40% of its free cash flow in the form of dividends and share buybacks in the future, it said on Monday.

Wienerberger is hiking its capital distribution policy from the 10 to 30% of free cash flow it had previously paid out to shareholders after deduction of the costs of hybrid capital, the Austrian company said.

The group had posted a 33% increase in core profit and 8% revenue growth for the six months through June. It confirmed its 2019 targets on Monday.

"We want our shareholders to benefit more strongly from this successful performance," Chief Executive Heimo Scheuch said in a statement.

(Reporting by Kirsti Knolle; Editing by Tassilo Hummel)