Riyadh – Mubasher: Al Rajhi Bank on Sunday said its board has recommended the distribution of cash dividends to shareholders for the second half of 2018.
The recommendation entails the distribution of SAR 2.25 per share or a total value of SAR 3.656 billion, Al Rajhi said in a filing to the Saudi Stock Exchange (Tadawul).
There are 1.625 billion eligible shares for the distribution, which represents 22.5% of the dividend to share book value.
“The eligibility of the dividends shall be for shareholders owning shares by the end of trading day of Al Rajhi Bank’s General Assembly meeting date (which will be announced later) and are registered at Depository Center at the end of the second trading day following the General Assembly Meeting date,” Al Rajhi added.
The Saudi-listed bank further noted that it had distributed SAR 3.25 billion in dividends for the first half of 2018 at SAR 2 per share.
Following the two announcements, Al Rajhi would have distributed SAR 4.25 per share or a total value of SAR 6.906 billion for the full-year ended 31 December 2018, it said, indicating that this sum represents 42.5% of the share’s nominal value.
In a separate statement on Sunday, Al Rajhi said its extraordinary general meeting (EGM) had approved the recommendation to increase the bank’s capital by 53.8% to 25 billion shares or to SAR 25 billion.
Al Rajhi last reported a 13.6% year-on-year rise in profits to SAR 2.57 billion in the third quarter of 2018 from SAR 2.27 billion in the year-ago period, while for the first nine months of the year, the Saudi bank logged SAR 7.52 billion in profits, up 12.8% year-on-year from SAR 6.67 billion.
By 11:04 am Saudi time, Al Rajhi Bank’s stock grew 5.14% to SAR 92.
