Shell’s first-quarter profit triples to $9.3 billion

• The company’s shares rose as high as 3.3% in early trading 

Shell’s (NYSE: SHEL) first-quarter profit tripled to $9.3 billion from the $3.2 billion profit posted a year ago, amid soaring commodity prices. 

Shell's shares rose as high as 3.3% in early trading, outperforming the 1.8% rise of an index of oil and gas companies.

The company reported its first quarter results on Thursday and announced  that it would be increasing its dividend by around 4% to $0.25 per share for the first quarter.

Shell has bought back its shares worth $4 billion, out of the $8.5 billion share buyback program announced for the first half of the year. The energy giant will buy back the remaining $4.5 billion shares before the announcement of second-quarter earnings.

In the current environment, it said it expects shareholder distributions to exceed 30% of cash flow in the second half.

About debts and losses

The company’s debt burden was reduced to $48.5 billion from $52.6 billion at the end of 2021, aided by the quarterly cash flow of $14.815 billion.

Shell confirmed it had taken $3.9 billion of post-tax charges in the first quarter as a result of its exit from Russia. 

Adjusted earnings from refining and marketing oil products were reported as $1.17 billion as compared to a loss of $130 million incurred in the last quarter. The company’s adjusted earnings had reported a profit of $781 million last year despite volumes falling to around 1.6 million bpd from 1.9 million.

Source - Shell

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