Riyadh – Mubasher: The Saudi Basic Industries Corporation’s (SABIC) announced that its shareholders had approved a cash dividend distribution of SAR 2.2 per share, or 22% of the share’s par value, for the second half of 2017 during an extraordinary general meeting (EGM) held the previous day.

The world's fourth-biggest petrochemicals company is to pay total distributions of SAR 6.6 billion.

The dividends will be distributed on 1 May to the shareholders registered in records on 17 April, SABIC noted, according to a statement to the Saudi Stock Exchange (Tadawul) on Wednesday.  

The EGM also nodded to authorise the board of directors to distribute interim cash dividends for 2018, as well as define maturity and paying dates which cope with the firm’s financial position, inflows, and expansion and investment plans, the statement showed.

SABIC’s net profits tumbled 18.63% to SAR 3.67 billion during the fourth quarter of 2017, compared to the year-ago period, while its net profits levelled up 4.49% to SAR 18.4 billion for the full year 2017.

SABIC’s stock increased 2.26%, to close Tuesday’s trading session at SAR 122.90.