Russ Oil-Gas

23 April 2009 - Moscow Times - Gazprom's board of directors recommended that the gas monopoly pay out dividends of 30.3 billion rubles ($900 million), or 1.28 rubles per share, for 2008, Interfax on Thursday cited a source close to the company as saying. The annual shareholders meeting, where the dividends will be decided on, will take place on June 26. The recommended payout is nearly twice that of last year, or 63 billion rubles at 2.66 rubles per share. This corresponds with the Gazprom tradition of paying out dividends of 17.5 percent of net income according to Russian accounting standards. The Federal Property Management Agency has recommended lowering the figure to 10 percent of net income. Gazprom's net income fell 50 percent in 2008, despite record hydrocarbon prices, because of the fall in price of its stock in Gazprom Neft.