Saudi Arabia’s Aramco said it expects to pay full dividends to its shareholders, including the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia, “despite reporting lower earnings for the first quarter on Tuesday, hit by lower oil prices and volumes sold,” Reuters reports.
The Saudi government, which directly holds about 82.2% of Aramco, earns a significant sum of its total income from the state-owned energy conglomerate, although economic diversification efforts are well underway and showing strong signs of traction since the launch of Vision 2030.
Reuters reports that Aramco reported a 14% decline in first-quarter net income to $27.3 billion in the three months to March 31, in line with analyst estimates and down from $31.9 billion a year earlier, the news service said, citing a company earnings statement. The report added that The company declared base dividend payouts for the first quarter totalling $20.3 billion which will be fully covered by first-quarter profit and a performance-linked dividend distribution of $10.8 billion to be paid in the second quarter.
Saudi Arabia’s non-oil economy continues to show promise, although most recent figures show a slight slowdown after months of solid growth.
Aramco said it expects total dividends of $124.3 billion to be declared in 2024, of those $43.1 billion in performance-linked dividends, Reuters notes.
