Lukoil Board Pledges to Return Quarter of Profit to Shareholders

Lukoil PJSC, Russia’s second-largest oil producer, pledged to return at least a quarter of its profits to shareholders. Lukoil will distribute a dividend of no less than 25 percent of net income according to International Financial Reporting Standards, the Moscow-based company said Monday following a board meeting. While the decision sets a floor for future payouts, in the past Lukoil has often ended up distributing more. “This sets the minimum level of dividend, which is good,” Alexander Kornilov, a Moscow-based analyst at Aton LLC, said by e-mail. Lukoil is actually proposing to pay out about half of 2015 earnings as a dividend this year, and distributed a 30 percent share a year earlier, he said.