Saudi Aramco maintains dividend despite 45% slump in profit

Saudi Aramco maintains dividend despite 45% slump in profit

Saudi Aramco left its dividend unchanged at $18.75bn even as it failed to generate enough cash to cover the payout and reported a 45 per cent drop in third-quarter profit.

Net income at the world's biggest oil company was SAR44.2bn ($11.8bn), broadly in line with analysts' expectations. Sales fell 25 per cent from the same period of 2019 to $53.3bn.

The state energy firm's free cash flow was $12.4bn between July and September, compared with $20.6bn a year earlier. Gearing climbed to 21.8 per cent from 20 per cent in June and from minus 5 per cent in March, when Aramco had more cash than debt.

Aramco's shares rose 0.6 per cent to SAR34.40 in early trading in Riyadh, paring this year's drop to 2.4 per cent. The stock has been bolstered