Woodside Profit Falls 39%, Weighs on Dividend Payout

MELBOURNE, Australia--Woodside Petroleum Ltd.'s (WPL.AU) half-year profit fell by 39% after the company was hit by the recent slump in oil prices.

The weakened earnings weighed on the energy company's interim dividend payout--cutting it by 41% from a year ago.

Net profit fell to US$679 million in the six months through June, from US$1.11 billion a year earlier, Woodside said Wednesday.

Stripping out one-time items, including a US$31 million gain the year before on the sale of assets, earnings for the period were 40% lower, also at US$679 million. That was in line with the US$673 median of five broker forecasts compiled by The Wall Street Journal.

Chief Executive Peter Coleman said the company continued to focus on cost-cutting opportunities and efficiency. The company also said it would pay an interim dividend of US$0.66 a share, down from US$1.11 last year.

Australia's largest oil-and-natural-gas producer by output behind mining and energy company BHP Billiton Ltd. (BHP) last month recorded a 47% fall in second-quarter sales revenue, as production dropped 15% and sales volumes declined by 9.3%--due to the fall in oil-linked gas prices and maintenance at its Pluto liquefied natural-gas plant.

The Perth-based company reiterated on Wednesday that it was targeting production for the year of between 86 million and 94 million barrels of oil equivalent.

Write to Robb M. Stewart at [e-mail]

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(END) Dow Jones Newswires

August 18, 2015 21:35 ET (01:35 GMT)

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