Aramco sends off IPO signals

The company boosts key investor metrics, suggesting it has renewed its appetite for an IPO

Saudi Aramco yesterday announced a hugely increased dividend despite falling revenues—in a move that analysts suggest may be calculated to impress investors ahead of enacting its long-delayed public float. The firm recorded drops in net income and Ebit in the first half of 2019, falls that substantially outstripped the decline in the firm's realised oil price. Net income for the first six months of 2019 was $46.9bn, down by 12pc from $53bn in the same period last year. Ebit was down by 9pc from $101.3bn to $92.5bn. Nonetheless, reported free cash flow was up by 7pc from $35.6bn to $38bn and a whopping 233pc higher special dividend to its government sole shareholder. Increasing these metrics—