TotalEnergies investors were given a treat at the unveiling of the company’s latest quarterly financials on Friday (April 26, 2024).
Noting that oil prices had remained elevated above its expectations for the first three months of the year, the French energy major authorized a $2 billion share buyback for the upcoming quarter.
And that’s not all. TotalEnergies also hiked its first interim dividend to €0.79 ($0.84) per share; an increase of nearly 7% alongside authorizing the buyback.
Such overtures aimed at keeping shareholders happy came despite the company’s adjusted net income falling by 22% on an annualized basis to $5.1 billion over the quarter.
TotalEnergies’ cash flow was also down 15% on the same quarter last year, coming in $8.2 billion. However, the said declines are from a historically higher base recorded in the corresponding quarter in 2023, given the impact of the Russia-Ukraine war on energy prices at the time.
All things considered, the company’s published earnings are still above market expectations. In tandem with crowd pleasing dividend and buyback announcements, the financials will likely be price positive for TotalEnergies’ shares.
At Friday’s close, the company’s share price was up 2.09% or €1.42 to €69.48 for the session, up €1.93 or 2.86% for the week, and up €6.01 or 9.47% on the month. The trend reinforces growing investor confidence in the company which is celebrating the 100th year of its founding in 2024.
TotalEnergies Chief Executive Officer Patrick Pouyanné said the results were broadly indicative of headline trading in line with the company ambitions, and “in a context of sustained oil prices and refining margins but softening gas prices.”
Another one for New York?
In a rising trend of European supermajor bosses looking at U.S. markets to get more bang for their bucks, Pouyanné said in an earnings call, following the publication of his company’s results, that TotalEnergies is “seriously” examining the potential for a primary listing in New York, due to a bigger and somewhat friendlier investor base.
“U.S. shareholders are buying, European shareholders are not so buying, so we must think of it,” he said. The TotalEnergies boss is expected to report to the company’s board on the matter by September this year.
Pouyanné comments on a primary New York listing echo those of rival Shell’s Chief Executive Officer Wael Sawan. The boss of the British energy giant also recently said that he was open to a primary listing move to New York from London should his objective of a higher valuation not be met in the U.K.
Elsewhere, TotalEnergies said its oil and gas production averaged 2.46 million barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd), on the back of a 6% quarter-on-quarter growth in liquefied natural gas (LNG) production, and from its start-ups at Brazil’s Mero 2 and Nigeria’s Akpo West.
However, a marginal decline in the company’s headline output – to between 2.4 million boepd and 2.45 million boepd – should be expected in the second quarter due to planned maintenance. Some of the declines will be partially offset by production upticks at Mero 2 in Brazil and Tyra in Denmark, TotalEnergies added.
