ADNOC Drilling approves $350 million Q3 dividend, 8.03 fils per share

Summary

• ADNOC Drilling's board approved a $350 million interim dividend for the third quarter of 2026.
• The payout combines a 6.0252 fils quarterly dividend with a 2.0084 fils discretionary tranche.
• The discretionary layer adds roughly $87.5 million above the standard quarterly cash return to shareholders.

The latest

A $350 million interim dividend for the third quarter of 2026 was approved by the board of ADNOC Drilling, the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange-listed driller, at its meeting on 26 October 2026. The distribution works out to 8.03 fils per share, or about 1.285 billion dirhams in total, and is split between a standard quarterly payment and a discretionary top-up.

Details

• The headline figure: The board set the total third-quarter interim distribution at $350 million, equivalent to roughly 1.285 billion dirhams, according to the company's disclosure to the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange. The per-share entitlement is 8.03 fils, covering the three-month period ending in September 2026.
• The split: The 8.03 fils per share breaks into two distinct components: 6.0252 fils as the regular quarterly dividend, and 2.0084 fils as a discretionary distribution drawn from what the company identifies as the first tranche. The second element is the variable portion of the payout rather than part of the base commitment.
• The extra cash: The discretionary 2.0084 fils per share accounts for approximately a quarter of the total distribution, translating to roughly $87.5 million above what the standard quarterly dividend alone would have delivered to holders this quarter.
• Key dates: The last day of trading with entitlement to the dividend is 3 November 2026, with the eligibility date falling on 5 November. Investors buying the shares after the cut-off will not receive this quarter's distribution.
• Payment window: Settlement is due within 30 days of the board's decision date, placing the cash transfer on a timeline that runs from the 26 October meeting. The company did not name a single fixed payment date within that window.
• The listing: ADNOC Drilling trades on the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange, where the dividend announcement was filed. The company is the drilling arm within the wider Abu Dhabi National Oil Company group structure.
• What was not stated: The disclosure covering the distribution did not set out guidance on whether the discretionary tranche will be repeated in subsequent quarters, nor did it attach a full-year dividend figure to the third-quarter approval.

Between the lines

The decision to label part of the payout discretionary and tie it to a defined tranche separates the company's fixed commitment from its optional return. For shareholders, the 6.0252 fils is the predictable floor; the 2.0084 fils rides on top of it and carries no stated guarantee of recurrence in the quarters that follow.

What's next

Watch the 3 November trading cut-off and the 5 November eligibility date, then the settlement inside the 30-day window from the board decision. The next signal is whether the discretionary tranche reappears in the fourth-quarter declaration.

Source: Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange disclosure