Reuters: Global Markets: LyondellBasell boosts dividend after debt pay down

Reuters: Global Markets Reuters.com is your source for breaking news, business, financial and investing news, including personal finance and stocks. Reuters is the leading global provider of news, financial information and technology solutions to the world's media, financial institutions, businesses and individuals. // via fulltextrssfeed.com

LyondellBasell boosts dividend after debt pay down May 9th 2012, 13:08 By Ernest Scheyder Wed May 9, 2012 9:08am EDT (Reuters) - Chemical maker LyondellBasell Industries NV (LYB.N) boosted its dividend by 60 percent on Wednesday to 40 cents, saying recent debt payments have freed up cash that can be returned to shareholders. The dividend is payable June 11 to shareholders of record on May 21, pending the approval of the company's management board. The company, which is formally based in the Netherlands but run out of Houston, sold $3 billion of senior notes in an offering last March. Last autumn, the company also bought back nearly $2.8 billion of debt. Those moves helped LyondellBasell cull its long-term debt by 31 percent to $3.98 billion. The company had $1.67 billion in cash as of March 31. "The 60-percent dividend increase reflects our significant operational and commercial improvements over the past two years coupled with our most recent debt restructurings," LyondellBasell Chief Financial Officer Karyn Ovelmen said in a statement on Wednesday. Jim Gallogly, the company's CEO, said investors should expect "steady dividend growth" over time. The hike comes after LyondellBasell's quarterly revenue missed Wall Street's expectations last month, and profit was drained by high supply costs in Europe and Asia, sending shares down 6 percent. (Editing by Bernadette Baum) Link this Share this Digg this Email Reprints

You are receiving this email because you subscribed to this feed at blogtrottr.com. If you no longer wish to receive these emails, you can unsubscribe from this feed, or manage all your subscriptions