5th May 2022 17:42
(Alliance News) - Shell PLC is the best performing FTSE 100 stock in the year-to-date, after Thursday's better-than-expected first quarter results propelled shares higher.
In the three months to March 31, current cost of supply earnings attributable to shareholders rose to USD5.03 billion from USD4.35 billion in the same period the year prior. Income attributable to shareholders increased to USD7.12 billion from USD5.66 billion.
Shell explained income attributable to shareholders reflected post-tax charges of USD3.9 billion related to the phased withdrawal from Russian oil and gas activities.
The oil major posted adjusted earnings of USD9.13 billion, nearly tripled from USD3.23 billion the year before. This beat consensus, which had lay at USD8.67 billion.
Chief Executive Ben van Beurden said: "The war in Ukraine is first and foremost a human tragedy, but it has also caused significant disruption to global energy markets and has shown that secure, reliable and affordable energy simply cannot be taken for granted.
"The impacts of this uncertainty and the higher cost that comes with it are being felt far and wide. We have been engaging with governments, our customers and suppliers to work through the challenging implications and provide support and solutions where we can."
Revenue was up to USD84.20 billion from USD55.67 billion. Cash flow from operating activities surged to USD14.82 billion from USD8.29 billion.
In Shell's Upstream unit, its realised liquids price increased to USD88.63 per barrel from USD73.54 in the fourth quarter, with its Integrated Gas business seeing its realised liquids price rising to USD88.76 per barrel from USD77.20 in the final quarter of 2021.
Turning to returns, Shell raised its first quarter dividend by 47% to USD0.25 per share from USD0.17 a year ago.
The strong results come as calls mount from UK politicians in the opposition Labour and the Liberal Democrats parties for a windfall tax on oil and gas firms to help ease the cost-of-living crisis in the country.
The sector is reaping the benefits of rocketing oil and gas prices, which have been pushed to record levels by Russia's invasion of Ukraine and surging demand as economies emerge from the pandemic.
A barrel of Brent oil was quoted at USD109.58 late Thursday, up 41% in the year-to-date.
Shares in Shell have also risen 41% since the start of 2022, the biggest gain in the FTSE 100 so far this year.
Shell is just beating out defence firm BAE Systems, which has seen shares rise 38% so far this year, the stock also benefiting from the fallout of the Ukraine war.
Energy peer BP has recorded 26% share price growth in the year-to-date - placing it fourth in the FTSE 100, but lagging Shell's performance by some margin.
"While Shell also faces multi-billion-dollar costs associated with an exit from Russia these aren't on the scale of those endured by BP," noted Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell.
BP on Tuesday posted an attributable loss of USD20.38 billion in the first quarter of 2022, swinging from a USD4.67 billion profit in the first quarter last year. BP said the reported result included pretax adjusted items of USD30.8 billion.
By its preferred metric, BP swung to a replacement cost loss of USD23.04 billion from a replacement cost profit of USD3.33 billion the year before.
The London-based firm attributed the loss to its decision to exit its 19.75% shareholding in state-owned Russian oil firm Rosneft. BP said that, in the first quarter, the total post-tax charge for this was USD25.5 billion.
By Lucy Heming; [email protected]
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