Troubled oil firm slashes dividend

SCANDAL-HIT oil firm Petrofac has slashed its dividend by 42pc as it struggles with a bribery probe and a slump in demand.

Profits at the business dropped to £122m in the first half of 2017, down 4pc on the same period last year, and it is battling to reduce debts of nearly £800m.

Petrofac supplies services to major fossil fuel drillers and has suffered from cutbacks by customers due to the falling oil price, which boss Ayman Asfari said were ‘much deeper than anyone expected’. He said the only response was to slash costs. The interim dividend was cut from 22 US cents per share to 12.7 US cents.

In May, the Serious Fraud Office said it was probing Petrofac over bribery claims, prompting the firm to suspend its chief operating officer. Shares have since fallen nearly 50pc.

And Italian authorities last week fined Asfari more than £275,000 for alleged insider trading, a decision he is appealing against. Shares fell 02.3pc, or 9.7p, to 413.5p yesterday.