Riyadh, Saudi Arabia — Saudi Basic Industries Corporation’s (SABIC) board of directors has cleared an 18 percent cash dividend for the first half of 2023, at SAR 1.8 ($0.48) per share.
A total of SAR 5.4 billion ($1.43 billion) in dividends will be distributed on October 2, the Saudi petrochemicals giant said in a statement on Tadawul.
SABIC paid a total cash dividend of SAR 12.75 billion for 2022, or 42.5 percent of its net income. The dividend was paid in two installments of SAR 6.375 billion each. The first installment was paid on April 2, 2023, and the second installment was paid on June 1, 2023.
The dividend payout ratio for 2022 was higher than the previous year, when SABIC paid a total dividend of SAR 10.0 billion, or 33.3 percent of its net income. The higher dividend payout ratio in 2022 was due to the company’s strong financial performance. SABIC’s net income for 2022 increased by 45 percent to SAR 30 billion, compared to SAR 20.7 billion in 2021.
SABIC had reported a 90 percent decline in net income to SAR 0.66 billion ($177 million) in the first quarter, compared to SAR 6.47 billion ($1.77 billion) in the same period last year.
The company said in a statement that its revenue for the first quarter reached SAR 39.69 billion ($10.58 billion), a decrease of 8 percent compared to the previous quarter.
The statement said that the company expects the margins to remain under pressure in the second quarter, while expecting an average global GDP growth rate of 2.1 percent for 2023. It added that high inflation and interest rates continue to add to the uncertainty of global demand growth.