BP hands out £2.9bn to investors

BP shareholders are in line for a mammoth £2.9billion windfall as it launched another share buyback after delivering its highest quarterly profit in 14 years.

The sum, announced alongside the company’s results for the second quarter, follows a £2billion ($2.5billion) buyback unveiled earlier this year.

While the results have caused outrage among motorists, energy bill payers and politicians, they are good news for shareholders – many of whom have been long-term investors.

The buybacks will boost the nation’s pension coffers as well as retail investors and institutional backers including Legal & General and Royal London Asset Management. 

They are popular among investors as they reduce the number of shares in a company available for trading, boosting the value of the remaining stock.

BP also raised its quarterly dividend by 10 per cent to $0.06 per share, taking the payout to just around £820million.

The bumper payments came as the energy giant reported profits for the three months to the end of June had tripled to £6.9billion from £2.3billion last year. 

It is a hefty reward for investors in the oil giant, which saw its shares crash to a 26-year low in 2020 as lockdown measures caused energy demand to plunge.

The stock has since regained most of its lost ground and rose another 2.8 per cent, or 11p, to 403.35p following the quarterly results.

But Chris Beauchamp, chief market analyst at IG, said the buyback and dividend hike could serve as a ‘high water mark’ for the company.

BP has cashed in on soaring oil and gas prices that have been fuelled by supply disruption caused by the war in Ukraine, as well as a rebound in demand as the global economy recovers from the Covid-19 pandemic. 

In recent months, Russia has cut back supplies of natural gas to Europe, raising fears that it could turn off the taps altogether as winter approaches and sending prices soaring on international energy markets. 

The crisis has also caused energy bills in the UK to skyrocket, with the average household expected to be paying over £3,600 per year at the start of 2023. Last year, BP boss Bernard Looney described the energy market as a ‘cash machine.’

But the enormous profits across the industry have attracted outrage from politicians and campaigners, who have argued that the companies are profiting off the cost of living squeeze.

In a bid to ease growing popular anger, Looney, 52, and BP finance boss Murray Auchincloss have also said they will donate their £400 energy bill discount from the Government to charity.

But the gesture is unlikely to cause much financial pain for Looney, who was paid nearly £4.5million by BP last year. 

He is on course to receive £11.4million this year if bonus targets are met.