Emmanuel Thomas, Thursday, May 4, 2023
LONDON – Shell has announced its intention to commence a $4 billion share buyback programme in the next three months as part of its commitment to deliver attractive shareholder returns.
Chief Executive Officer of Shell Plc, Wael Sawan made the announcement in his report for Q1. He said Shell delivered strong results and robust operational performance against the backdrop of ongoing volatility.
“In Q1 Shell delivered strong results and robust operational performance, against a backdrop of ongoing volatility, while continuing to provide vital supplies of secure energy.
“We will commence a $4 billion share buyback programme for the next three months as part of our commitment to deliver attractive shareholder returns.”
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According to him, the company posted Q1 2023 Adjusted Earnings of $9.6 billion, with Adjusted EBITDA of $21.4 billion, with improved operational performance, lower underlying opex and better results in Chemicals & Products driven by trading & optimisation offsetting the impact of lower oil and gas prices, and higher tax compared with Q4 2022.
He said the $4 billion share buybacks announced is expected to be completed by Q2 2023 results announcement, which would bring total shareholder distributions to ~$12 billion for the first half of 2023.
He said the 2023 cash capex outlook is unchanged: $23-27 billion. Wael Sawan said he was able to strengthen the portfolio with the completion of the acquisition of Nature Energy (a renewable natural gas producer, Denmark), the investment decision for the Dover tie-back to the Appomattox production platform (USA) and the commencement of production at Vito (USA) and restart of Pierce (UK) facilities.
He said the corporation further simplified the portfolio through the divestment of non-core Upstream positions in onshore California and offshore Malaysia.
