Nigeria’s biggest indigenous oil firm to pay shareholders $14.7m dividend in Q2

Seplat Petroleum Development Company Plc, Nigeria’s largest listed Oil & Gas firm by market value, will pay a total sum of $14.7 million (at $2.5 cents per share) in cash compensation for the second quarter of 2021, the company announced during a conference call Thursday.

Seplat Energy declared a rebound from loss to profit in its half-year financials, highlighting a rise by half in revenue to N120.4 billion as the redeeming force for the oil and gas firm after a period marked by oil price volatility and a pandemic outbreak.

Although the boost to revenue was considerable and timely, Seplat realised N4 of every N5 sales it made from crude oil, with the rest contributed by gas, which underscores a steep imbalance between the two income sources.

With appropriate withholding tax to be factored into it, the cash will go to “shareholders whose names appear in the register of members as at the close of business on 12th August 2021,” Seplat said Thursday in a note unveiling the dividend plan.

“Shareholders holding their shares on the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) without a valid Nigerian Certificate for Capital Importation (“CCI”) will be paid their dividend in Naira as the default currency,” it added.

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Seplat noted that shareholders holding share on the NGX and having a valid CCI will get their dividends in U.S. dollars, while shareholders holding shares via depository interests on the London Stock Exchange will get paid in U.S. dollars.

Nigeria’s biggest upstream firm by market capitalisation, simultaneously listed in Lagos and London, took its new name in preference for Seplat Petroleum Development Company PLC; it was known until last month to reflect the fast-increasing shift of the global energy industry from hydrocarbons to cleaner energy.

In the spirit of that transition, the oil driller has disclosed its plan to raise gas’ contribution to revenue to 50 per cent by 2026.

The market value of Seplat, Nigeria’s biggest quoted oil company by market capitalisation, was N453.1 billion as of Thursday.