Shell (SHEL) on announced a new share buyback programme as it reported a quarterly jump in profit and revenue, although underperforming against the third quarter of 2022.
The FTSE 100 oil major said in the third quarter of 2023, pretax profit fell to $11.29 billion (£9.26 billion) from $11.44 billion, but doubled from $5.35 billion in the second quarter. Revenue fell 20% annually to $76.35 billion from $95.75 billion but was 2.4% higher than $74.58 billion in the second quarter.
Income attributable to shareholders rose 4.5% to $7.04 billion from $6.74 billion a year prior and jumped from $3.13 billion in the second quarter. It was higher due to higher refining margins, an up tick in realised oil prices, higher liquefied natural gas trading and optimisation results and higher Upstream production. It was partly offset by lower Integrated Gas volumes.
Shell declared a third quarter dividend of $0.331 per share, up 32% from $0.25 a year ago and in line with its second quarter dividend.
Further, it started a new $3.5 billion share buyback programme, which it expects to finish before the release of its 2023 result announcement on February 1. It added that it completed its $3 billion share buyback programme it had announced when it released its half-year results.
Looking ahead, Shell expects a cash capital expenditure of $23 billion to $25 billion for 2023, compared to $24.83 billion in 2022.
Shell shares were 4% higher at £27.69 each on Thursday and are up 17% this year.
