Shell profits slip on lower oil price, Ithaca ‘progressing’ – Daily Business

Oil and gas giant Shell reported lower-than-expected fourth-quarter profit as a weaker oil price hit the the FTSE 100 company’s profits.

Adjusted earnings came in at $3.26 billion for the quarter, missing analysts’ expectations of $3.53bn, and down from $3.66bn over the same period last year.

For the full-year, Shell reported earnings of $18.5bn, compared with annual profit of $23.72bn a year earlier.

Income attributable to shareholders was $17.8bn, an 11% increase on $16.09bn in 2024 enabling the board to recommend a 4% increase in its dividend to $0.372 per share and a $3.5bn share buyback programme, a move that marks the 17th consecutive quarter of $3bn or more in buybacks.

The announcement came after Norway’s Equinor declared hefty cuts to share buybacks on Wednesday after posting a 22% drop in fourth-quarter profit.

Equinor said it would reduce share buybacks to $1.5bin this year, down from $5bn last year, while also trimming investments in its renewables and low-emission energy projects.

BP and France’s TotalEnergies are both scheduled to report fourth-quarter earnings next week.

North Sea explorer Ithaca Energy today said it expects to spend $224 million on the Rosebank development this year, falling below the bottom end of guidance of $230-270 million.

In a trading update it said it expects a full year adjusted preliminary EBITDAX of $2bn (2024: $1.4bn), reflecting the group’s “significantly enhanced cash generation capacity”.

Yaniv Friedman, executive chairman, commented: “2025 was a year of great progress as we continued to deliver on our value creation strategy. We fully integrated a number of accretive acquisitions, increased our financial firepower for growth and built on our robust hedge book to secure future investments and distributions.

“We also delivered meaningful increases in production, revenue and EBITDAX whilst reducing costs, all of which drove increased free cashflow, supporting our $500 million dividend commitment.

“We’re excited by our prospects for the year ahead and beyond, and we enter the year with a significantly increased production rate.”