Rosneft to raise dividend by 25%

The board of directors of Rosneft, Russia's largest oil company, has recommended raising 2011 dividends by 25 percent on the previous year to 3.45 rubles a share, the company said after its annual shareholders' meeting. "The Rosneft board has provisionally confirmed the annual report for the company for 2011 and recommended paying a dividend of 3.45 rubles per share, at the annual shareholders' meeting" the company said. The overall amount to be paid out in dividends is 36.564 billion rubles ($1.2 billion). In mid-April, the company's president, Eduard Khudainatov, said Rosneft's management would increase dividends for 2011 by 20 percent compared to the previous year. Rosneft's dividend for 2010 was 2.76 rubles per share, up 20 percent on the preceding year. The overall dividend payout was 29.251 billion rubles or 15.2 percent of net profit according to Russian accounting standards.