Vedanta To Consider Fourth Dividend On Dec. 16, Fixes Record Date

Vedanta Ltd. will consider and approve the fourth interim dividend on equity shares in a meeting on Dec. 16. The record date for the purpose of determining shareholders entitled to the dividend has been set as Dec. 24.

The company added that due to regulations by SEBI, the training window will remain closed for dealing for designated persons from Dec. 12 to Dec. 18, the company said in an exchange filing on Wednesday.

The company had issued an interim dividend of Rs 20 apiece on Sep. 10 and a dividend of Rs 4 on Aug. 2. It had also issued an interim dividend of Rs 11 in May 2024.

Vedanta earlier this week received two orders from the office of GST & Central Excise, imposing a penalty of Rs 1.71 crore along with tax demand and applicable interest. The issue relates to the carryforward of cenvat credit on capital goods and the availing of transitional credit in Tran-1 during the financial year 2018.

The company in November said that it will invest $2 billion to build copper-processing facilities in Saudi Arabia. The firm will build a new smelter and refinery with a capacity of 4,00,000 metric tonnes per year. Vedanta also plans to set up a facility to produce as much as 300,000 tonnes per year of copper rods, a key raw material for electric cables.

The firm had also announced plans to invest Rs 1 lakh crore in Odisha to set up a 6-million-tonne-per-annum alumina refinery and a 3-million-tonne aluminium plant to manufacture green aluminium with renewable power.

Vedanta shares rose as much as 4.95% during the day to Rs 525 apiece on the NSE. The stock closed 2.82% higher at Rs 514 per share. This compares with a 0.13% advance in the benchmark Nifty 50. It has risen 106.94% and 100.02% year-to-date.

Out of 15 analysts tracking the company, nine maintain a 'buy' rating, five recommend a 'hold,' and one suggests 'sell,' according to Bloomberg data. The average 12-month consensus price target implies an upside of 2.2%.