Vedanta board to meet next week to consider third interim dividend

Anil Agarwal-led Vedanta Ltd on Wednesday said its board will meet next week to consider and approve the third interim dividend for the ongoing financial year.

Last month, the company approved the second interim dividend for 2024-25.

"...the meeting of the board of directors of the company is proposed to be scheduled on Monday to consider and approve the third interim dividend on equity shares, if any, for the financial year 2024-25," Vedanta said in a filing to the BSE.

Vedanta Ltd had in July approved a second interim dividend of Rs 4 per share for the current fiscal year.

Vedanta Ltd has prepared a war chest of Rs 30,000 crore with recent funds raised through a qualified institutional placement (QIP), offer for sale (OFS) and dividend to pursue further deleveraging and growth, sources had said.

Proceeds from the Rs 8,500-crore QIP of Vedanta Ltd, HZL's OFS of Rs 3,200 crore, and Rs 5,100 crore from the second interim dividend, coupled with existing cash reserves of Rs 13,000 crore, will lead to the creation of a Rs 30,000-crore war chest after the company receives all the funds, sources had said.

Vedanta continued to deliver strong quarterly numbers. For the first quarter, profit after tax grew 54 per cent year-on-year and more than doubled on a quarter-on-quarter basis to Rs 5,095 crore.