BP commits to bumper share buyback plan after raking in first quarter profits of £4bn
BP commits to share buyback plan after raking in £4bn first quarter profit
BP plows ahead with plans to buy back billions of pounds annually – on a great day for city investors.
The energy giant said it was ‘committed’ to a great programme, with an initiative to buy back around £3.2bn a year based on current projections.
It announced a further share buyback yesterday, announcing it would buy back £1.4bn worth of shares over the next three months. This follows a £4 billion profit for the first three months of the year.
Buyback scheme: BP said it was ‘committed’ to a fantastic programme, with plans to buyback around £3.2bn a year based on current projections
Chief executive Bernard Looney said, “This was a quarter of strong performance and strategic realization.”
But some investors were disappointed that the profit didn’t match last year’s equivalent of £5bn. Shares fell 8.6 percent, or 46.05p, to 488.35p.
Profits were boosted by strong commodity trading performance. Chief Financial Officer Murray Auchincloss said his gas traders had made “the right choice” in price falls and his oil traders also had a “very good” quarter.
Oil prices have fallen from a spike following the Russian invasion of Ukraine early last year.
The results again brought BP under fire, with the gigantic profits reigniting calls for energy giants to be forced to pay more taxes.
Energy groups have come under scrutiny over the past year after raking in monster profits as households struggled with higher bills.
BP has already spent £800m under the existing windfall tax, but politicians yesterday called for more taxation on the company.
Labor leader Sir Keir Starmer said BP’s profits were those ‘that they didn’t expect to make, these are profits that go above and beyond because the world price of energy is so high’.
Luke Hildyard, director of the High Pay Center think tank, said: “Super-big profits made by oil companies and other corporate giants overwhelmingly end up with the super-rich.
“These huge windfalls are purely geopolitical coincidence.”
But speaking to media yesterday, Auchincloss added: “We know how difficult it is. We understand it.’
But he brushed off calls for a tougher windfall tax, saying: “Taxes are for the government, not us. We’re not going to speculate.’