Paris - Total raised its dividend 1.6 percent and said it may give the go-ahead for almost a dozen new projects in the next 18 months after fourth-quarter profit beat analysts’ estimates.
“We’re going to propose to increase the dividend as we have confidence in the future,” chief executive Patrick Pouyanne said in Paris.
“My goal is to launch new projects to prepare the future, while remaining disciplined and cutting costs further, because crude prices might drift lower.”
Total’s confident appraisal of the year ahead belied what was otherwise a difficult fourth quarter for oil companies.
The French producer’s peers BP, Royal Dutch Shell and Exxon Mobil all fell short of analysts’ estimates as rising profits from oil and gas production failed to fully offset weaker earnings from refining and trading.
Total’s adjusted net income climbed 16 percent from a year earlier to $2.41billion (R32.38bn) due to rising oil and gas production and cost cuts, the company based in Courbevoie near Paris said on Thursday.
Solid release
Analysts polled had expected a profit of $2.23bn.
“We view this as a solid release, with a small beat to consensus, further cost-reduction targets and a small hike in dividend signalling management confidence,” Goldman Sachs Group analysts wrote.
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Total shares gained as much as 2percent and were up 0.6 percent at e47.10 (R675.62) as of 11.22am in Paris yesterday. The stock has climbed 28 percent in the past 12 months.
Funding dividend adjusted net operating income jumped 51percent from a year earlier to $1.13bn in Total’s exploration and production business, and rose 13percent to $1.14bn in the refining and chemicals division.
After writing down the value of gas assets in Australia, Angola and the UK due to falling oil and gas prices, Total reported net income of $548m compared with a loss of $1.63bn a year earlier.
The company said it would raise its quarterly dividend by 1cent to e0.62, the first increase in three years, while maintaining the option for shareholders to be paid with new Total shares.