British Petroleum revealed a full-year underlying replacement cost profit of $2.8 billion, topping the $2.6 billion net profit reported for the first quarter of 2021. Analysts were looking for a Q2 net profit of $2.06 billion. Additionally, British Petroleum also increased its dividend by 4% to 5.46 cents per share.
Moreover, BP’s net debt fell to $32.7 billion from $33.3 billion, marking the fifth consecutive quarter of decreased debt from the $51 billion reported in Q1 2020.
British Petroleum results were driven by the strong commodity prices, with Brent oil reaching an average of $69 per barrel in Q2. Overall, oil prices rebounded in the past months, reaching multi-year highs.
In Q3, the UK-based company announced it would buy back $1.4 billion shares using a $2.4 billion cash surplus accrued in the first half of 2021. BP anticipates an annual dividend increase of 4% through 2025 based on an estimated average oil price of $60/ barrel.
At the moment of writing, BP stock price is up more than 4.50%. Year-to-date, the company’s stock price gained almost 15%.
Source: cnbc.com, finance.yahoo.com
