SQM Declares US$1.43501 Per Share Interim Dividend From 2026 Profits

SQM’s board of directors approved an interim dividend of US$1.43501 per share on August 25, 2026, charged against the lithium and iodine producer’s 2026 net income, the Santiago-based company said in an essential fact notice filed under Chilean securities law.

The dividend will be paid in Chilean pesos at the “Observed Dollar” exchange rate published in the Official Gazette on September 4, 2026. Payment begins at 9:00 a.m. on September 11, 2026, to shareholders registered in the company’s registry five business days before the payment date, according to the notice.

The interim payout lands one week after SQM reported first-half net income of US$1,024.7 million, or US$3.59 per share, a 353.5% increase over the US$225.9 million earned in the same period of 2025. Second-quarter net income reached US$660.0 million, up 646.4% year-on-year, on revenues of US$2,468.4 million, according to the company’s second-quarter earnings release. Based on the roughly 285.6 million shares implied by those per-share figures, the interim dividend represents a distribution of approximately US$410 million, or about 40% of first-half earnings, by this reporter’s arithmetic.

Lithium Prices Rebuilt the Payout Capacity

The engine behind the distribution is the lithium market’s recovery. SQM sold a record 84.1 thousand metric tons of lithium carbonate equivalent in the second quarter of 2026, and its Chilean operations, run through the Novandino joint venture with state copper producer Codelco, realized an average price of approximately US$21.8 per kilogram, up nearly 23% from the first quarter and close to 160% year-on-year. Lithium and derivatives generated 78% of consolidated gross profit in the first half.

The new dividend also steps up from the US$1.02952 per share the company distributed in May 2026, which was approved at the April 23, 2026 annual shareholders’ meeting against 2025 fiscal-year income, per the payment notice SQM published on April 29, 2026. That earlier payment reflected a 2025 in which lithium prices were only beginning to recover; the company’s dividend policy for 2025 targeted a 30% payout of annual profits, with interim dividends charged against the final distribution.

What the Policy Allows

That policy gives the board room to raise the payout percentage beyond 30% when it judges the increase would not “materially and negatively affect” the company’s ability to fund its investments, and interim payments are deducted from whatever final dividend the board later proposes. The cash position supports the distribution: SQM held US$3,376.8 million in cash and equivalents as of June 30, 2026, up from US$1,750.3 million at the end of December 2025.

The money is leaving while an ambitious build program runs. SQM has guided to roughly US$3 billion in capital expenditures across 2026 to 2028, about 60% of it directed to Novandino in Chile. Beyond that, the Salar Futuro project, whose environmental and technical documentation Novandino submitted in July 2026, contemplates approximately US$3 billion of investment over about seven years once approvals are in hand, and the Mt. Holland expansion in Australia with partner Wesfarmers is expected to require US$450 million to US$500 million attributable to SQM between 2026 and 2029.

Payment Mechanics and What Follows

For holders of the New York-listed shares, the practical markers are the peso conversion rate fixed September 4, 2026, and the September 11, 2026 payment start; the record date falls five business days before payment. SQM accrued more than US$1.6 billion in payments to the Chilean State during the first half of 2026, a figure that includes corporate and mining taxes, quarterly lease payments under the Corfo contracts in the Salar de Atacama, and the dividend accrued to Codelco as its partner in Novandino.

Management said in the earnings release it expects lithium prices to remain relatively stable during the third quarter and put 2026 global lithium demand at over 2.1 million metric tons. The next fixed points for shareholders are the third-quarter results and whatever final dividend the board proposes against full-year 2026 income at the 2027 annual meeting, from which the interim payments will be deducted under the stated policy.