In spite of consistently high oil and gas prices, BP’s Q4 results out on Tuesday don’t look great. Especially not when compared to those of arch-rival Shell, out last week.
BP’s full year earnings are down 22 per cent at $17.2bn from $22.2bn. One off charges were partly to blame – but so too were weak refining margins and higher costs across the board. Fourth quarter replacement cost profit came in at $2.9bn – against pretty widespread analysts predictions at the $4.5bn mark. The results in full are available here.
Cynics may note that the dividend has been raised, 25 per cent in the latest quarter.
The quarterly dividend, to be paid in March, is 13.525 cents per share ($0.8115 per ADS) compared with 10.325 cents per share a year ago. For the year, the dividend showed an increase of 16%. The dividend increase marks a shift in the balance between dividends and share buybacks as a means of returning value to shareholders. In sterling terms, the quarterly dividend is 6.813 pence per share, compared with 5.258 pence per share a year ago; for the year the increase was 7%. During the quarter, the company repurchased 121 million of its own shares for cancellation at a cost of $1.5 billion. For the year, share repurchases were 663 million at a cost of $7.5 billion.