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Dividends are payments made by a corporation to its shareholder members. It is the
portion of corporate profits paid out to stockholders.[1]
When a corporation earns a profit or surplus, that money
can be put to two uses: it can either be re-invested in the
business (called retained earnings), or it can
be paid to the shareholders as a dividend. Many corporations retain
a portion of their earnings and pay the remainder as a
dividend.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dividend
Whatever a firm makes for the year is not necessary declared as
dividends during the AGM.
