The WELT editorial team took a look at four dividend pearls from Eastern Europe. Not "gambling houses", but companies that make real profits, have solid balance sheets, a clear business model, are often market leaders and can be traded as normal in Germany.
$KRKG (+2,51Â %)
Krka from Slovenia
Pharma with growth without debt. The company has an extremely solid balance sheet and is debt-free. This is an absolute rarity in the pharmaceutical sector. The Slovenians produce generics - in other words, medicines that are always needed. And best of all: since Krka started paying dividends in 2015, they have been able to increase them every year. The current yield is a good five to six percent. One small drawback is that the withholding tax in the country is 25 percent and ten percentage points of this cannot be offset directly.
A little fun fact: anyone who buys Krka shares also becomes a hotel owner. This is because the company also owns one of Slovenia's largest spa and wellness operators, Terme Krka.
$PZU (+0,35Â %)
PZU from Poland
The group is the "Alliance of the East", so to speak, and with real market power! PZU is the largest insurer in the whole of Central and Eastern Europe.
The company also owns large stakes in banks, including a 20 percent stake in Bank Pekao. The exciting thing here is the valuation: with a price/earnings ratio (P/E) of 10, the company is valued more favorably than its Western competitors, but is growing in line with the dynamic Polish economy. It grew by more than three percent in real terms last year.
PZU is a real cash machine for income investors. The dividend yield is often between seven and eight percent. This makes the share a heavyweight for the portfolio and not a small second-tier stock. Withholding tax is levied at 19 percent, of which four percent can be reclaimed.
$IGN1L (+3,05Â %)
Ignitis Group from Lithuania
The energy supplier from the Baltic States is building large-scale wind farms in the Baltic Sea. The Baltic region is in the process of completely detaching itself from Russia in terms of energy, and Ignitis is the key driver. It is a mix of secure grid operator and aggressive green tech growth.
The figures are right here too: The dividend yield is around six to seven percent and the state is on board as an anchor shareholder.
$SNP
OMV Petrom from Romania
OMV Petrom is the largest energy company in south-eastern Europe. The good thing for investors is that Petrom is majority-owned by the Austrian OMV $OMV (+0,91Â %) - so you have Western management, but Romanian growth opportunities.
Moreover, OMV Petrom is not just a petrol station. The group is sitting on a huge treasure. The project is called "Neptun Deep" and is a gigantic gas field in the Black Sea, which the company is now developing. This will make Romania the largest gas producer in the EU. That is energy security for the whole of Europe.
The figures are also pretty good. OMV Petrom is flush with cash and often pays a special dividend in addition to the normal dividend. In good years, investors can therefore quickly achieve a return of eight to ten percent.
Source text (excerpt), WELT 14.01.2026
