Saudi Aramco to return $124bn to shareholders in FY24

State-owned petroleum and natural gas company Saudi Aramco will return more than $120.0bn to shareholders in FY24 following a "market-leading performance" during H1.

Saudi Aramco declared a $20.3bn "base dividend" for Q2 on Tuesday, as well as a performance-linked dividend of $10.8bn that will be paid in Q3. The world's largest oil company also highlighted that it now expects to declare total dividends of $124.2bn in 2024.

Interim free cash flow came to $41.7bn in H1, with $19.0bn coming in Q2, down from $22.7bn in Q1 and $23.2bn at the same time a year earlier.

Saudi Aramco said H1 net income came to $56.3bn, with $27.2bn coming in Q1 and a further $29.1bn in the second.

Chief executive Amin Nasser said: "These are exciting times for Aramco as we continue to seek new opportunities to enhance our portfolio and our capabilities to enable a secure and more sustainable energy future".

As of 1030 BST, Saudi Aramco shares were up 2.43% at SAR 27.50.

Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com