Bulletin: Empresa Nacional del Petroleo's Financial Performance Still Within Expectations Despite Unplanned Dividend Announcement

This report does not constitute a rating action. SAO PAULO (S&P Global Ratings) Sept. 5, 2023--S&P Global Ratings said today that its rating and outlook on Empresa Nacional del Petroleo (ENAP; BB+/Positive/--) currently remain unchanged following the Chilean government's recent request for the company to pay a dividend of up to $400 million. The Ministry of Finance recently informed ENAP that the government will formally request a dividend payment of $400 million, equivalent to 70% of ENAP?s 2022 net profit. At this stage, the dividend doesn't change our expectations for an improving trend in leverage metrics in the next two years, because we view it as a one-off event. As a result, we haven't changed our base-case scenario to incorporate

...September 5, 2023 This report does not constitute a rating action. SAO PAULO (S&P Global Ratings) Sept. 5, 2023--S&P Global Ratings said today that its rating and outlook on Empresa Nacional del Petroleo (ENAP; ##+/Positive/--) currently remain unchanged following the Chilean government's recent request for the company to pay a dividend of up to $400 million. The Ministry of Finance recently informed ENAP that the government will formally request a dividend payment of $400 million, equivalent to 70% of ENAP's 2022 net profit. At this stage, the dividend doesn't change our expectations for an improving trend in leverage metrics in the next two years, because we view it as a one-off event. As a result, we haven't changed our base-case scenario to incorporate a new dividend policy for ENAP. This means that we have not included any further dividend distribution beyond 2023. At the April 2023 shareholder meeting, the 2023-2027 plan was discussed. Although the announcement of a dividend goes...

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