Noble Corp. Eliminates Quarterly Dividend; Stock Down

(RTTNews) - Noble Corp. plc (NE) said that its board has approved the elimination of the Company's quarterly cash dividend of $0.02 per share, effective immediately.

In the pre-Market trade, NE is trading at $5.11, down $0.42 or 7.59 percent.

The company noted that the continuation of challenging fundamentals in the offshore drilling industry, which have led to lower fleet utilization, was central to the Company's decision. Elimination of the dividend supports the Company's continued focus on liquidity preservation and is expected to reduce annual cash expenditures by approximately $20 million.