The West Indies Oil Company Limited (WIOC) has finalized its first dividend payments to its stakeholders since it was listed on the Eastern Caribbean Stock Exchange (ECSC) in 2022.

Chief Executive Officer of WIOC Gregory Georges stated recently that the payments to the 950 shareholders are being managed by the Eastern Caribbean Central Securities Depository.

“The directors have a policy of doing a payout ratio of maybe 67 percent of net profits and therefore we paid a dividend in a total of just about $13 million to the shareholders on record”.

The government retained the majority share in the oil company despite the decision to sell some of those shares to the general public.

“They own approximately 46 percent of the shares even though they divest 5 percent to the general public so their dividend payment would be in the region of $6 million EC that would have also been paid through the ECCSD.

“I can confirm certainly the ECCSD got the funds and I think by now the treasury would have received the dividends as every other shareholder would”, George said.

It is anticipated that the 2023 payment, which reflects the company’s performance, would be larger.

Last month the company encouraged shareholders who have opted for direct deposit to allow about three (3) working days for payments to be credited to their account via electronic funds transfer.

For payments via cheque, the timing will depend on the postal authorities’ delivery schedule.