This post was originally published on this site
Royal Dutch Shell PLC said Thursday profit fell significantly in the fourth quarter of 2019, weighed by lower realized oil, gas and liquefied natural gas prices.
The oil giant RDS.A, -0.34% RDS.B, -0.81% RDSA, -3.99% RDSB, -3.60% said profit for the three months on a net current cost-of-supplies basis–a metric similar to the net income that U.S. oil companies report-was $871 million, down from $7.33 billion.
Adjusted CCS earnings attributable to shareholders–Shell’s preferred metric which excludes identified items–was $2.9 billion, down from $5.69 billion. The company blamed weaker realized refining and chemicals margins as well as negative movements in deferred tax positions.
Quarterly net profit attributable to shareholders fell to $965 million, compared with $5.59 billion. This was well below the $3.36 billion, which two analysts on FactSet had estimated.
For the quarter, revenue was $84.01 billion, down 18% from the previous year’s quarter.
The company said that its intention to complete the $25 billion share-buyback program is unchanged, but cautioned that the pace of the buyback remains subject to macro conditions as well as further debt reduction.
The board maintained its quarterly dividend at $0.47.
