DUBAI, April 18 (Reuters) - Jarir Marketing Co , one of Saudi Arabia's largest retailers by market value, will pay a cash dividend of 1.75 riyals ($0.47) per share for the first quarter of 2016, the firm said in a statement on Monday.

The figure is lower than the 2.25 riyals per share which the company paid in the same period of 2015, according to Thomson Reuters data.

Jarir's first-quarter net profit dropped 29.5 percent from the previous year, missing analysts' forecasts.

($1 = 3.7499 riyals)

(Reporting by Katie Paul; Editing by David French) ((Katie.Paul@thomsonreuters.com;))

Keywords: JARIR DIVIDENDS/