HOUSTON, and LONDON, June 1, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- LyondellBasell (NYSE: LYB), today announced that it has declared a dividend of $1.00 per share, to be paid June 18, 2018 to shareholders of record June 11, 2018, with an ex-dividend date of June 8, 2018.
The company also announced that at its Annual General Meeting on June 1, 2018, shareholders approved the amendments to its Articles of Association that implement the transition from a dual board structure to a unitary board of directors. In connection with this transition, each of the director nominees, including Bob Patel, the Chief Executive Officer, was elected to serve on the unitary board. Also, as a part of the board's succession planning process, Jacques Aigrain has been appointed as Non-Executive Vice Chair of the board.
The company also announced that shareholders approved a new share repurchase program authorizing the company to repurchase up to 10 percent of the company's shares over the next 18 months. The repurchases will be executed from time to time through open market or privately negotiated transactions.
"The strong and consistent performance of our global portfolio of businesses has allowed us to return more than $29 billion to our shareholders through dividend payments and share repurchases over the past seven years," said Bob Patel, CEO of LyondellBasell. "We remain confident in our ability to advance shareholder value in changing markets, and strong returns for shareholders will continue to be a fundamental component of our capital deployment strategy."
The amount and timing of future share repurchases and dividends will depend on, and be subject to, market conditions, general economic conditions, applicable legal requirements and other corporate considerations. The share repurchase program and dividend policy may be suspended or discontinued at any time. This share repurchase program does not obligate LyondellBasell to acquire any particular amount of shares. LyondellBasell had approximately 391 million shares outstanding as of May 30, 2018.
Forward looking statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements. Actual outcomes and results may differ materially from what is expressed or forecast in such forward-looking statements. These statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve certain risks, uncertainties and assumptions that are difficult to predict. Factors that could cause actual results to differ from forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, availability, cost and price volatility of raw materials and utilities; supply/demand balances; industry production capacities and operating rates; uncertainties associated with worldwide economies; legal, tax and environmental proceedings; cyclical nature of the chemical and refining industries; operating interruptions; current and political governmental regulatory actions; terrorist acts; international political unrest; competitive products and pricing; technological developments' the ability to comply with the terms of our credit facilities and other financial agreements; the ability to implement business strategies; and other factors affecting our business generally as set forth in the "Risk Factors" section of our Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2017, which can be found at www.LyondellBasell.com on the Investor Relations page and on the Securities and Exchange Commission's website at www.sec.gov
About LyondellBasell
LyondellBasell (NYSE: LYB) is one of the largest plastics, chemicals and refining companies in the world. Driven by its 13,400 employees around the globe, LyondellBasell produces materials and products that are key to advancing solutions to modern challenges like enhancing food safety through lightweight and flexible packaging, protecting the purity of water supplies through stronger and more versatile pipes, and improving the safety, comfort and fuel efficiency of many of the cars and trucks on the road. LyondellBasell sells products into approximately 100 countries and is the world's largest licensor of polyolefin technologies. In 2018, LyondellBasell was named to Fortune magazine's list of the "World's Most Admired Companies." More information about LyondellBasell can be found at www.LyondellBasell.com.
SOURCE LyondellBasell