Shell said Thursday that second-quarter earnings fell, and launched a $3 billion share buyback program.
The multinational energy major
SHEL,
SHEL,
said adjusted earnings fell to $5.07 billion in the quarter, down from the record-high $11.47 billion in the same period a year prior, and missing market consensus of $5.58 billion, polled from 23 analyst-estimates by Vara Research.
The fall was driven lower liquefied natural gas trading and optimization results, lower realized oil and gas prices, lower refining margins, and lower volumes, Shell said
Cash flow from operations–measure of the cash a company generates from normal business operations–rose 7% to $15.13 billion, above market consensus’ $14.62 billion. This included a working capital inflow of $4.8 billion.
Net income dropped 64% to $3.13 billion, which included net impairment charges and reversals of $1.7 billion, and was driven by the same factors as for adjusted earnings.
“Shell delivered strong operational performance and cash flows in the second quarter, despite a lower commodity price environment,” Chief Executive Wael Sawan said.
The FTSE 100 group said it has launched a $3 billion buyback program set to complete by the third-quarter results announcement, when a further share buyback program of at least $2.5 billion is expected to be announced, it said.
Shell declared second-quarter dividends of $0.331, up from $0.25 a year prior
Shell’s second-quarter integrated gas production was 985,000 oil-equivalent barrels a day, while liquefied natural gas volumes were 7.2 million tons, and upstream production was 1.7 million barrels of oil equivalent a day. This was in line with Shell’s expectations.
Write to Christian Moess Laursen at christian.moess@wsj.com
This post was originally published on Market Watch
