Shell Share Discussion Threads

[la forge] 31/1/2019 11:12

Royal Dutch Shell PLC doubled 2018 profit as strong crude prices and belt tightening have kept Big Oil on track to deliver healthy returns.

The British-Dutch oil giant said Thursday 2018 profit on a cost-of-supplies basis -- a number similar to the net income that U.S. companies report -- was $23.8 billion, its highest level since the crude price crash in 2014.

The company's results reflect a broader effort by the energy industry to be profitable with oil prices at $60 a barrel or lower following the 2014 downturn, when prices hit rock bottom.

"We delivered on our promises for the year," said Chief Executive Ben van Beurden. "We will continue with a strong delivery focus in 2019, with a disciplined approach to capital investment."

The company completed a $30 billion divestment program, shedding assets in Thailand, New Zealand and India.

Moreover, the firm projects in the first quarter of 2019 its integrated gas production will inch down by as much as 170,000 barrels of oil equivalent a day due to divestments and more maintenance activities.

Analysts view Shell as an industry leader in deep-water and liquefied natural-gas exploration. The firms holds more than 20% of LNG market share, say experts.

Free cash flow increased by 42% to $39.4 billion from $27.6 billion a year earlier when Shell suffered losses due to adverse price movements on hedging for the price of their liquefied natural-gas shipments as well as other currency related losses.

Still, investors focused on fiscal discipline may zero in on Shell's capital expenditure which inched up to $23 billion for the full year compared with $20.8 billion last year due to investments in exploration and joint ventures.

"By streamlining their operation in the last few year Shell have given themselves flexibility and the slight increase in capital expenditure is one of the fallout," said Richard Hunter the head of markets at the U.K.-based interactive investor. "Still, I'm not overly concerned. The negatives are few and far between," he said.

The company maintained its quarterly dividend at 47 cents a share and declared a final dividend for the year of $1.88 a share, unchanged from the previous year.

Shell also announced the third stage of its share buyback program for a total of $2.5 billion in the period until the end of April.

Shares were trading 4% higher at 23.77 on the London Stock Exchange.

Write to Neanda Salvaterra at [e-mail]



(END) Dow Jones Newswires

January 31, 2019 05:42 ET (10:42 GMT)

[imperial3] 31/1/2019 11:04

OK La Forge.

[la forge] 31/1/2019 11:03

YEP NON YET IMP

but looking out for them

[imperial3] 31/1/2019 10:59

It will be interesting to see broker comments.

[la forge] 31/1/2019 10:45

(Update: details on the share buyback program, the dividend and the production, forecasts for the first quarter of 2019, stock market reaction)


BARCELONA (Agefi-Dow Jones) - Royal Dutch Shell (RDSB.LN) announced on Thursday that earnings rose in the fourth quarter of 2018 as the group benefited from high prices for oil, gas and liquid natural gas.


The Anglo-Dutch oil giant said its profit excluding change in the cost of inventory replacement attributable to shareholders reached $ 7.33 billion in the quarter ended December 31, against $ 3.08 billion a year earlier .


Earnings excluding changes in the cost of inventory replacement and non-recurring items stood at $ 5.81 billion over the period, a figure higher than the consensus set by Vara Research of $ 5.28 billion.


Net income attributable to shareholders increased to $ 5.59 billion in the fourth quarter from $ 3.81 billion a year earlier.


Total sales rose 19 percent to $ 104.6 billion, Shell said.


Shell announced Thursday the launch of the third tranche of its $ 25 billion share buyback program, which began last year. As part of this new tranche, the group will buy back up to $ 2.5 billion of shares. The group has already bought back a cumulative $ 4.5 billion worth of securities in the first and second tranches of the program.


Cash flow from operations increased to $ 22.02 billion in the fourth quarter from $ 7.28 billion a year earlier, the group said, while production remained relatively stable at $ 3.8 million. barrels of oil equivalent per day.


For the first quarter of 2019, Shell anticipates a decline in production in its integrated and upstream gas divisions, citing the impact of disposals. Sales volumes for petroleum products are expected to decrease in the first quarter of 2019 compared to the same period a year earlier, due to a divestment of activities in Argentina.


The group also maintained its quarterly dividend at 47 cents per share.


In response to these announcements, the Shell share gained 3.6% to 2,368 pence Thursday morning on the London Stock Exchange.


-Oliver Griffin, Dow Jones Newswires


(French version Maylis Jouaret) ed: VLV


Agefi-Dow Jones The financial newswire


(END) Dow Jones Newswires


January 31, 2019 04:27 ET (09:27 GMT)

[grupo] 31/1/2019 10:26

A SMILE A DAY HELPS YOU WORK REST AND PLAY





OH STOP FOOLIN ABOUT

[grupo] 31/1/2019 08:42

Michele Maatouk
WebFG News
31 Jan, 2019 08:16
Shell earnings jump on higher oil and gas prices
Royal Dutch Shell, oil & gas, petrol

Royal Dutch Shell posted a jump in full-year earnings on Thursday as it benefited from higher realised oil, gas and liquefied natural gas prices and cost cutting.
Royal Dutch Shell 'A'
2,355.50
08:26:33 31/01/19
3.28%
87.00
FTSE 100
6,987.36
08:27:01 31/01/19
0.66%
45.73
FTSE 350
3,890.25
08:27:01 31/01/19
0.62%
23.92
FTSE All-Share
3,839.44
08:27:01 31/01/19
0.60%
22.77

The company's current cost of supply earnings excluding identified items rose 36% for the year to $21.4bn. For the fourth quarter, earnings were up 32% to $5.7bn.

Cash flow from operations rose to $22bn in the fourth quarter, which included positive working capital movements of $9.1bn, mostly due to a fall in the crude oil price and lower inventory levels. Meanwhile, free cash flow rose to $39.4bn from $27.6bn the year before.

Chief executive Ben van Beurden said: "Shell delivered a very strong financial performance in 2018, with cash flow from operations of $49.6bn, excluding working capital movements. We delivered on our promises for the year, including the completion of the $30bn divestment programme and starting up key growth projects while maintaining discipline on capital investment. We paid our entire dividend in cash, further reduced our debt and launched our share buyback programme, with $4.5bn in shares repurchased so far.

"We will continue with a strong delivery focus in 2019, with a disciplined approach to capital investment and growing both our cash flow and returns. Our strategy to deliver a world-class investment case is working.”

RBC Capital Markets said net income of $5.7bn for the fourth quarter was ahead of both consensus at $5.3bn and its own forecast of $5.4bn.

"Overall, we expect the shares to react positively to the earnings beat and de-gearing," said analyst Biraj Borkhataria.

"Quarterly underlying cash flow remains volatile, although we think this quarter’s underlying rate was slightly weak relative to our expectations. We look to the management event later today for clarity on two things: 1) Is Shell on track for its $25-30bn free cash flow targets – excluding any benefits from working capital/LNG margining, etc. and; 2) What is the capex guidance for 2019?"

[grupo] 31/1/2019 08:36

LINTON5

How far up to close the gap

approx 2700 me thinks

WARNING

BEWARE OF THE GAP

have a good one




Shell B
2,365.5 +3.50%

[chiefbrody] 31/1/2019 08:31

Just checking in. Meh. share price not great after a few Months away.Buybacks going well lol. No div increase yet. Hey ho.These buybacks better lead to a substantial future div increase...

[linton5] 31/1/2019 08:19

Well done montyhedge but it’s leaving a bit of a gap up

[grupo] 31/1/2019 08:14

Royal Dutch Shell PLC (RDSB.LN) on Thursday reported a rise in profit for the fourth quarter of 2018, saying it had benefited from high prices in oil, gas and liquid natural gas.

The British-Dutch oil giant said its profit for the three months ended Dec. 31 on a net current cost-of-supplies basis--a number similar to the net income that U.S. oil companies report--was $7.33 billion compared with $3.08 billion in the year-earlier period.

Adjusted CCS earnings--Shell's preferred metric--came to $5.81 billion in the fourth quarter, beating a consensus estimate from Vara Research that forecast $5.28 billion in adjusted CCS earnings.

Net profit attributable to shareholders for the fourth quarter rose to $5.59 billion from $3.81 billion in the year-earlier period.

Total revenue for the fourth quarter rose 19% to $104.6 billion, Shell said.

The company provided an update on its share buyback program. Last year Shell kicked off a much-awaited $25 billion share-buyback program by saying it would start with an initial $2 billion, which it completed on Oct. 19. Shell said Thursday that it will buy back a further $2.5 billion of shares in the third tranche.

Cash flow from operations for the quarter rose to $22.02 billion, from $7.28 billion in the year-earlier period the company said, while production stayed relatively flat at 3.8 million barrels of oil equivalent a day.

Looking ahead to the first quarter of 2019, Shell forecast declining production in its integrated gas and upstream divisions, citing the effect of divestments. Oil products sales volumes are expected to fall in the first quarter of 2019 compared with the year-earlier period due to the company's divestment in Argentina.

The company maintained its quarterly dividend at 47 cents a share.



Write to Oliver Griffin at [e-mail]; @OliGGriffin



(END) Dow Jones Newswires

January 31, 2019 02:38 ET (07:38 GMT)

[montyhedge] 31/1/2019 08:02

Come on guys credit where it's due I called this right.

[waldron] 31/1/2019 07:29

TOP NEWS: Shell Earnings Slightly Beat Consensus After "Strong" Year
Thu, 31st Jan 2019 07:19


LONDON (Alliance News) - Oil major Royal Dutch Shell PLC on Thursday said earnings shot up in 2018, slightly beating consensus, as London's largest listed company by market value commenced the latest tranche of its share buyback programme.

Shell's current cost of supply (CCS) earnings excluding identified items attributable to shareholders, the firm's preferred metric, rose 36% to USD21.40 billion from USD15.76 billion in 2017. Analyst consensus had predicted CCS earnings of USD20.98 billion.

In the Upstream segment, CCS earnings came in at USD6.78 billion, versus USD3.09 billion last year and consensus of USD6.69 billion

Integrated Gas CCS earnings came in at USD9.40 billion versus USD5.27 billion last year. Consensus had forecast USD9.37 billion.

Shell's Downstream earnings came in at USD7.57 billion for the year. Analysts had pencilled in USD7.07 billion. In 2017 the company had generated earnings of USD9.08 billion from the division.

For the fourth quarter alone, group CCS earnings were USD5.69 billion, up 32% compared to USD4.30 billion for the same three-month period a year ago. Consensus stood at USD5.28 billion.

Revenue for 2018 came in at USD388.38 billion, up 27% from USD305.18 billion last year.

"Shell delivered a very strong financial performance in 2018, with cash flow from operations of USD49.6 billion, excluding working capital movements," said Chief Executive Ben van Beurden.

"We delivered on our promises for the year, including the completion of the USD30 billion divestment programme and starting up key growth projects while maintaining discipline on capital investment," he added. "We paid our entire dividend in cash, further reduced our debt and launched our share buyback programme, with USD4.5 billion in shares repurchased so far."

Shell kept its total dividend payout for the year flat at USD1.88 per share. The oil firm also on Thursday said it has commenced the third tranche of its share buyback programme.

Shell will buyback USD2.5 billion worth of shares under the latest tranche, aiming to repurchase at least USD25 billion by the end of 2020.

By Lucy Heming; [e-mail]

[waldron] 31/1/2019 07:24

OUTLOOK FOR THE FIRST QUARTER 2019

Compared with the first quarter 2018, Integrated Gas production is expected to
decrease by some 140 - 170 thousand boe/d, mainly due to divestments, the
transfer of some activities into the Upstream segment as of 2019 and higher
maintenance activities. LNG liquefaction volumes are expected to be 0.4 - 0.7
million tonnes lower, mainly as a result of divestments and higher maintenance
activities.

Compared with the first quarter 2018, Upstream production is expected to be 10
- 50 thousand boe/d lower, mainly due to divestments and field decline, partly
offset by ramp-ups of existing fields. This includes the impact of additional
activities previously reported in the Integrated Gas segment in 2018.

Refinery availability is expected to decrease in the first quarter 2019
compared with the same period a year earlier as a result of higher maintenance
activity.

Oil Products sales volumes are expected to be 40 - 70 thousand boe/d lower
compared with the same period a year earlier, mainly as a result of the
divestment in Argentina.

Chemicals manufacturing plant availability in the first quarter 2019 is
expected to be at a similar level as in the first quarter 2018.

Corporate earnings excluding identified items are expected to be a net charge
of $400 - 450 million in the first quarter 2019 and a net charge of $1,700 -
1,900 million for the full year 2019. This excludes the impact of currency
exchange rate effects and the impact of IFRS 16 Leases.

The results and outlook reported in this announcement do not include the impact
of the application of the new standard IFRS 16, which is effective as of
January 1, 2019. The quantitative impact at transition date will be disclosed
in the 2018 Annual Report and Form 20-F.

FORTHCOMING EVENTS

The LNG Outlook will be held on February 25, 2019 in London.

Shell will host a webcast covering the impact of IFRS 16 Leases on March 28,
2019.

The Annual General Meeting is scheduled to be held on May 21, 2019.

Shell will host Management Day events on June 4, 2019 in London, and on June 5,
2019 in New York.

First quarter 2019 results and dividends are scheduled to be announced on May
2, 2019. Second quarter 2019 results and dividends are scheduled to be
announced on August 1, 2019. Third quarter 2019 results and dividends are
scheduled to be announced on October 31, 2019.

[waldron] 31/1/2019 07:15

LOOKING GOOD BILLYRAY



Royal Dutch Shell Chief Executive Officer Ben van Beurden commented:

"Shell delivered a very strong financial performance in 2018, with cash flow
from operations of $49.6 billion, excluding working capital movements. We
delivered on our promises for the year, including the completion of the $30
billion divestment programme and starting up key growth projects while
maintaining discipline on capital investment. We paid our entire dividend in
cash, further reduced our debt and launched our share buyback programme, with
$4.5 billion in shares repurchased so far.

We will continue with a strong delivery focus in 2019, with a disciplined
approach to capital investment and growing both our cash flow and returns. Our
strategy to deliver a world-class investment case is working."

[waldron] 31/1/2019 07:08

31/01/2019 7:02am
UK Regulatory (RNS & others)


TIDMRDSA TIDMRDSB

ROYAL DUTCH SHELL PLC FOURTH QUARTER 2018 INTERIM DIVIDEND

The Board of Royal Dutch Shell plc ("RDS" or the "Company") today announced an
interim dividend in respect of the fourth quarter of 2018 of US$0.47 per A
ordinary share ("A Share") and B ordinary share ("B Share"), equal to the US
dollar dividend for the same quarter last year.

Details relating to the fourth quarter 2018 interim dividend

It is expected that cash dividends on the B Shares will be paid via the
Dividend Access Mechanism from UK-sourced income of the Shell group.

Per ordinary share Q4 2018

RDS A Shares (US$) 0.47

RDS B Shares (US$) 0.47

Cash dividends on A Shares will be paid, by default, in euro, although holders
of A Shares will be able to elect to receive dividends in pounds sterling.

Cash dividends on B Shares will be paid, by default, in pounds sterling,
although holders of B Shares will be able to elect to receive dividends in
euro.

The pounds sterling and euro equivalent dividend payments will be announced on
March 11, 2019.

Per ADS Q4 2018

RDS A ADSs (US$) 0.94

RDS B ADSs (US$) 0.94

Cash dividends on American Depository Shares ("ADSs") will be paid in US
dollars.

ADSs are listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbols RDS.A and
RDS.B. Each ADS represents two ordinary shares, two A Shares in the case of
RDS.A or two B Shares in the case of RDS.B. ADSs are evidenced by an American
Depositary Receipt (ADR) certificate. In many cases the terms ADR and ADS are
used interchangeably.

Dividend timetable for the fourth quarter 2018 interim dividend

Announcement
date January 31,
2019

Ex-dividend date
February 14, 2019

Record
date
February 15, 2019

Closing date for currency election (see Note below) March 1,
2019

Pounds sterling and euro equivalents announcement date March 11, 2019

Payment
date
March 25, 2019

[fjgooner] 31/1/2019 00:47

That's great news.

Hopefully we'll see a commitment to increase annual capex into New Energy of at least $4Billion for next year - with a clear line of sight to increase further to $6 Billion by 2022.

This is why Shell remains the best energy major in the world.

[maywillow] 30/1/2019 20:20

Shell to buy Greenlots, as EV charging business heats up
Katie Fehrenbacher
Wednesday, January 30, 2019 - 10:49am
Shell

A wave of investment is flowing into building out electric vehicle charging networks, and a bit of that is coming from an unexpected place: oil majors.

On Wednesday, electric vehicle software company Greenlots announced that it will be acquired by oil giant Shell, and specifically by its division Shell New Energies, which focuses on new transportation fuels including electricity, biofuels and hydrogen. The companies didn't reveal terms of the deal but said that Greenlots' technology would "become the foundation for Shell's continued expansion of electric mobility solutions in North America."

The deal isn't Shell's first in EV charging. A year and a half ago, Shell acquired Dutch-based NewMotion, the owner of one of Europe's largest charging networks.

Shell's interest in electric vehicle infrastructure highlights the growth of the electric vehicle industry, as more consumers and companies in certain regions (California, China and Norway to name three) are increasing buying electric vehicles. One in 10 vehicles sold in California has a plug, said Bloomberg New Energy Finance analyst Colin Mckerracher, while more than half of new cars sold in Norway are electric.

To meet this coming demand for electricity to power vehicles, companies are quickly building large businesses around developing EV infrastructure. Notable players include ChargePoint, EVgo and Volkswagon subsidiary Electrify America.

Electrify America chargers by BTC Power.

ChargePoint recently closed on a $280 million series H round of funding to grow to meet demand. The round included Chevron Technology Ventures.

Electrify America — which was created as part of a settlement after VW was caught cheating on its diesel vehicle emissions tests — intends to spend $2 billion over 10 years to promote EV adoption and deploy chargers around the United States. Electrify America has been rolling out fast chargers at places like Walmart parking lots, and along highways.

While charging companies are trying to grow quickly to deploy the infrastructure, other smaller entrants are innovating around business models. Volta partners with brands and uses advertising to give charging away for free. And FreeWire Technologies deploys mobile battery-based chargers.

Shell isn't the only oil giant with an interest in EV charging. Last year, BP acquired Chargemaster, the UK's largest public EV charging network.

While companies are investing big in EV charging, so are states. In some of the largest uses of public funding for EV chargers, last year California energy regulators approved a portfolio of EV charging projects worth $738 million for California’s investor-owned utilities Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E), San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E) and Southern California Edison (SCE). Those programs will build chargers for both passenger and commercial vehicles.

Shell plans to announce earnings on Thursday morning, so we'll look to see if there are any new details of the Greenlots acquisition and update this.