By Ron Bousso
LONDON (Reuters) -Shell bossted its dividend and share repurchases on Thursday after its fourth quarter profits soared to $6.4 billion at the end of last year on the back of higher oil and gas prices.
Shell, which moved its headquarters from The Hague to London last month, said it expected to increase its dividend by 4% in the first quarter of 2022.
The company also announced it will buy back $8.5 billion worth of shares in the first half of 2020, including $5.5 billion from the sale of its Permian shale assets in the United States.
That compares with share buybacks totalling $3.5 billion in 2021.
“2021 was a momentous year for Shell,” CEO Ben van Beurden said in a statement.
Fourth-quarter 2021 adjusted earnings rose by 55% from the previous quarter to $6.4 billion, above an average analyst forecast https://vara-services.com/shell provided by the company for a $5.2 billion profit. That compares with earnings of $393 million a year earlier.
For the year, Shell’s adjusted earnings rose to $19.3 billion, compared with $4.85 billion in 2020.
(Reporting by Ron Bousso; Editing by Jan Harvey and Tomasz Janowski)
