Savola Group, the Saudi Arabia-based food conglomerate, said the company board had approved the distribution of cash dividends worth SR700 ($186.4 million) to the shareholders.

The group operates in three core sectors: the Food sector, which includes edible oils, sugar and pasta, the Retail sector through Azizia Panda supermarkets and hypermarkets, and the Plastics sector, which manufactures both rigid and flexible plastic products.

Savola announced several key decisions at the extraordinary shareholders’ general assembly meeting (EGM) on Saturday at the Park Hyatt Hotel in Jeddah and also appointed a new board for the next term.

Savola had registered a net profit of SR413.4 million in the three months ending December 31, 2012, down 17 per cent over the previous year.

Impressed with the results, the assembly approved the board’s recommendation to distribute cash dividends for the fourth quarter amounting to SR250 million in addition to the ratification of the total dividends already distributed to the shareholders for the first three quarters of 2012 amounted to SR450 million thus taking the total cash dividends (paid and to be paid) to SR700 million.

The company said iot will start distributing the fourth quarter dividends on March 30.

Also at the meeting, a new 11-member board of directors was elected for the new office term, to commence from July 1 2013, for a period of three years.

The new board members include Suliaman A. Al-Muhaidib, Dr Abdulraouf M. Mannaa, Abdullah M. Rihaimi, Mohammed AbdulgadirAlfadl,  Ibrahim M. Alissa, Fahad A. Al Qassim, Abdulaziz Khalid Al Ghufaily, Issam Abdulgader Al Muhaidib, Badr Abdullah Al-Issa,  Abdulkareem Asaad Aboulnasr and Ameen M. Shaker.

The EGM also approved the reappointment of Price Waterhouse Coopers (PWC) as the group’s external auditor.

In addition, the Group has a diversified portfolio of strategic investments in which it owns 36.6 per cent of Al-Marai fresh dairy company, 49 per cent of Herfy foods and restaurant chain, and 29.9 per cent of Kinan International Real Estate.

The Savola Group is also one of the founders of Knowledge Economic City in addition to its shareholdings in major companies and other investments portfolios.-TradeArabia News Service