
TotalEnergies SE raised its dividend and maintained the pace of share buybacks, shrugging off a drop in fourth-quarter earnings caused by weaker oil prices and shrinking refining margins.
The French energy giant’s results are line with other major oil and gas producers, with rivals Shell Plc and Chevron Corp. also prioritizing cash returns to investors even as they posted declining end-of-year profits. Lower earnings could put pressure on the industry’s ability to fund hefty share buybacks in the longer term, but for now the industry is coping with sluggish economic growth in Europe and mounting trade tensions provoked by the policies of US President Donald Trump.
Earnings fell “in a softer environment, mainly affected by a sharp decline in refining margins, after two exceptional years,” TotalEnergies’ Chief Executive Officer Patrick Pouyanne said in a statement on Wednesday.
Adjusted net income fell 16 percent in the fourth-quarter from a year earlier to $4.41 billion, according to the statement, beating the average analyst estimate of $4.26 billion.
The company plans to buy back $2 billion of its shares per quarter this year assuming “reasonable market conditions,” matching the pace in 2024, according to the statement. The quarterly dividend increased to €0.85 a share, from €0.79 previously.
Source: By Francois de Beaupuy from Rigzone.com