RIYADH: The Saudi National Bank’s shares went down on Monday, after shareholders endorsed the board’s recommendation to pay SR6.94 billion ($1.9 billion) in dividends.
Saudi Arabia’s largest lender saw its share price drop by 0.93 percent to SR74.4 as of noon Saudi time.
It went down from an all-time closing high of SR75.9 it recorded less than a week ago on April 13, after crossing SR76 for the first time in its history that same day.
Prior to the share drop, the bank announced that its extraordinary general assembly meeting had approved the proposed dividend payout of SR1.55 per share for 2021.
The bank’s 2021 profit was up 10.7 percent to SR12.7 billion, from SR11.4 billion a year earlier.
The bank attributed the improved performance to a series of factors that followed January’s NCB-Samba merger, which fueled a 32.6 percent rise in operating income.
