31st Oct 2018 08:25
LONDON (Alliance News) - Randgold Resources PLC, which is soon to merge with Canada's Barrick Gold Corp, on Wednesday increased the agreed dividend its shareholders would receive for 2018.
In early October, when the two announced the merger, Randgold said its shareholders would get a USD2.00 per share dividend for 2018.
Randgold shareholders are now to get USD2.69 per share, costing Randgold around USD65 million in total. Randgold has boosted the payout due to its financial performance so far in 2018, it said.
As a result, FTSE 100-listed Randgold is to push back its extraordinary general meeting by two business days to Wednesday next week.
Randgold shares were down 0.5% early on Wednesday at a price of 6,112.10 pence each.
Barrick's shareholders were, in early October, to get a quarterly dividend for the three months to December of 5 US cents per share.
Barrick shareholders will now receive 7 cents per share, USD23 million in total. Likewise, on the back of strong performance, Barrick is targeting an annual payout of 16 cents, and this increased final-quarter dividend will allow it to hit this target.
The merger, which will see Randgold leave the London Stock Exchange, will create a USD18.3 billion mining giant to be called Barrick Group.
Related Shares:
Randgold Resources