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Investing.com — BP PLC (LON:BP) has unveiled annual income that more than doubled to a fresh record high, leading the oil major to kick off a fresh round of share buybacks and hike its dividend.
Underlying earnings for the year soared by just over 115% to $27.65 billion, the highest in the company’s 114-year history, although the figure remained below the record returns of peers Shell PLC (LON:SHEL) and Exxon Mobil Corp (NYSE:XOM).
The bumper results fueled an increase in BP’s dividend by 10% to 6.61 cents per ordinary share. It announced a further $2.75B in share buybacks in the first quarter as well.
Shares in BP climbed by more than 3% in early European trading on Tuesday.
However, underlying replacement cost profit for the three months to December 31 dipped to $4.8B, down from $8.2B in the prior quarter. Analysts had expected the figure to come in at $5.11B.
In a statement, the group said it was hit by a “below average” result at its key gas marketing and trading division. Underlying profit at its gas and low carbon energy unit fell to $3.15B from $6.24B in the third quarter.
BP added that it also saw oil and gas prices decline from extraordinarily elevated levels seen earlier in 2022 following the outbreak of the war in Ukraine.
