Slavneft to pay interim dividends

Slavneft will pay interim dividends for the first half of 2003 at RUR2.24 (about $0.074) per share with par value RUR0.1, the press service of the company reported. This decision was adopted at a meeting of the Board of Directors of Slavneft on August 25, 2003. Some 10.65bn rubles ($351m) will be allocated to dividend payments.

The Board of Directors also decided not to pay dividends for 2002 and invest the company's net income totaling 9.78bn rubles ($307.7m) in the company's assets.

The question of dividend payments for the first half of 2003 will be discussed at an extraordinary meeting of Slavneft shareholders on September 29.

As reported earlier, Sibneft and TNK purchased a 74.95-percent government stake in Slavneft for $1.86bn in December 2002. The new shareholders declared that Slavneft assets would be divided between TNK and Sibneft at 50:50. However, a concrete scheme of dividing the assets has not been announced yet.

The authorized capital of Slavneft is 4.754m rubles ($156,433) and it is divided into 4.754bn common shares.

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