Shell: third-quarter profit surges 37 percent

(CercleFinance.com) - Royal Dutch Shell said that its current cost of supply (CCS) net profit jumped 37% to 5.
6 billion dollars in the third quarter, as higher oil and gas prices outweighed lower margins in downstream and the appreciation of the US dollar.

In a statement this morning, CEO Ben van Beurden highlighted "good operational delivery," giving one of the group's "strongest-ever quarters."

Excluding working capital movements, cash flow from operations reached 14.7 billion dollars in the quarter, he said.

"Our strong financial performance allowed us to cover the cash dividend, interest payments, share buybacks and to further pay down debt," van Beurden noted.

The Anglo-Dutch oil company maintained its quarterly dividend at 47 cents. In the past quarter, total dividends distributed to shareholders have totalled 3.9 billion dollars.

Moreover, Shell has launched the second tranche of its share buyback program presented earlier this year. The company intends to buy back at least 25 billion dollars of its shares by the end of 2020.

The company's Amsterdam-listed "A" shares were trading down 0.9 percent at 27.9 euros after these results, in line with a 0.8% drop in the STOXX Europe 600 Oil & Gas index.

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