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Shell PLC on Thursday posted a sharp decline in profit and revenue in both the fourth quarter and 2023 as a whole, citing lower oil and gas prices, but the company announced a new share buyback programme and a higher dividend.
The London-based oil major said pretax profit plunged to $1.64 billion in the fourth quarter of 2023 from $16.44 billion a year prior. Total revenue declined 21% to $80.13 billion from $101.20 billion.
In all of 2023, pretax profit fell nearly 50% to $32.63 billion from $64.82 billion in 2022, while total revenue dropped 16% to $323.18 billion from $386.20 billion.
Shell said the worsened results in 2023 ‘reflected lower realised oil and gas prices, lower volumes, and lower refining margins, partly offset by higher liquefied natural gas trading and optimisation margins, and higher Marketing margins.’
Despite its reduced profit, Shell increased its quarterly dividend per share to 34.40 US cents from 28.75 cents a year before, bringing the total dividend for 2023 to $1.29, up 25% from $1.04 in 2022
Shell also announced it has completed its $3.5 billion share buyback and will now launch a new $3.5 billion share buyback programme.
‘Shell delivered another quarter of strong performance, concluding a year in which we made good progress across the targets outlined at our Capital Markets Day. As we enter 2024 we are continuing to simplify our organisation with a focus on delivering more value with less emissions,’ said Chief Executive Wael Sawan.
For 2024, Shell expects a cash capital expenditure of $22 billion to $25 billion, compared to $24.39 billion in 2023 and $24.83 billion in 2022.
Shell shares were up 1.5% to 2,483.00 pence on Thursday morning in London. The FTSE 100 index, of which Shell is a major component, was up just 0.2%.
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