Saudi Aramco’s Luberef proposes cash dividend as profit climbs 32% to $530m in 2022

Saudi Aramco’s Luberef proposes cash dividend as profit climbs 32% to $530m in 2022

RIYADH: Saudi Arabian Base Oil Co., also known as Luberef, recorded SR1.97 billion ($530 million) net profit after Zakat and tax in 2022, registering a 32 percent increase over the previous year. The company’s net profit in the fourth quarter of 2022 tripled to SR763.19 million, from SR220.81 million in the same period of 2021, a filing made to the Saudi stock exchange showed. In percentage terms, Luberef’s net profit climbed 60.7 percent in the fourth quarter from SR474.79 million recorded in the third quarter of last year. The total comprehensive income of Luberef in 2022 rose 37.42 percent year-on-year to SR2.02 billion, the bourse filing showed. Luberef attributed the rise in total comprehensive income to a number of factors including an increase in base oil and by-product crack margins and sales volumes. As the profit of the company surged, its board of directors has recommended a 50 percent cash dividend, or SR5 per share, for the second half of 2022, the company said in the statement. It should be also noted that this is the first cash distribution for Luberef since its listing in December 2022. The Tadawul statement further added that the dividend distribution date will be announced