Shell records double to 40bn.

Shell's profits doubled to an all-time high of almost $40 billion in 2022 as it benefited from soaring

energy prices following Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Europe's biggest oil and gas group reported profits of $9.8 billion for the year's final three months, even as prices receded from their earlier highs, thanks to a bumper performance by its liquefied natural gas traders. The results beat analyst forecasts of under $8 billion for the fourth quarter and boosted Shell's full-year adjusted earnings to $39.9 billion. In addition, Shell rewarded shareholders by increasing its quarterly dividend by 15 per cent as planned and announcing that it would buy back another $4 billion of its shares this quarter.

Wael Sawan, Shell's new chief executive, said its results showed «the strength of Shell's differentiated portfolio, as well as our capacity to deliver vital energy to our customers in a volatile world». Sawan, who succeeded Ben van Beurden at the start of the year, has already unveiled plans to rejig Shell's corporate structure and announced a strategic review of its UK household energy supply business. Energy prices soared last year after Russia curtailed gas supplies to Europe and western sanctions were imposed on Russian oil after the country invaded Ukraine. In addition, the group said last month that it had paid tax on its UK North Sea operations in 2022 for the first time in five years after the UK energy profits levy imposition.

www.sba.tax

Comments

Cloud Bookkeeping

US FED rate rise.

The US Federal Reserve officials have indicated that they plan to resume increasing interest rates to control inflation in the world's biggest economy. During the June meeting, the Federal Open Market Committee reached a consensus to keep interest rates stable for the time being to evaluate whether further tightening of policy would be necessary. However, the majority of the committee anticipates that additional rate increases will be required in the future. The minutes of the meeting have recently been made public. According to the minutes, most participants believed maintaining the federal funds rate at 5 to 5.25 per cent was appropriate or acceptable, despite some individuals wanting to raise the acceleration due to slow progress in cooling inflation. Although Fed forecasts predicted a mild recession starting later in the year, policymakers faced challenges in interpreting data that showed a tight job market and only slight improvements in inflation. Additionally, officials gr...

EU business slide.

S&P Global’s flash eurozone composite purchasing managers’ index, a key gauge of business conditions for the manufacturing and services sector, fell 1 point to 47.1, figures showed yesterday. That is its lowest level since November 2020 and the fourth consecutive month below the crucial 50 mark separating growth from contraction. One of the few bright spots in the survey was that companies in all sectors reported a slight easing of cost pressures, price growth and supply chain constraints. However, prices charged for goods and services still rose at the sixth fastest rate since such data started in 2002. Jobs growth increased marginally from October but remained low compared with the past 18 months. Following a few months of falling price pressure in manufacturing and services, the October print shows an overall stabilisation said Jens Eisenschmidt, chief European economist at Morgan Stanley. However, German businesses, at the hub of Europe’s energy crisis, reported that manu...

Tariffs on UK electric cars.

The European Commission has confirmed that it will continue with its plan to impose tariffs on electric cars exported between the UK and EU starting next year. This is due to the "rules of origin" requirement that mandates EVs traded across the English Channel to have 60% of their battery and 45% of their parts sourced from the EU or UK or face a 10% tariff. A senior Commission official, Richard Szostak, recently informed parliamentarians from the UK and EU that the bloc's battery investment has significantly declined, making the tariffs necessary to encourage domestic production. In 2022, the EU's share of global investment in battery production shrank from 41% to only 2% after the US offered substantial subsidies through its Inflation Reduction Act. Starting in 2024, car manufacturers in the UK will need to have 22% of their sales come from zero-emission vehicles, which means they may need to import EVs from the continent to meet this requirement. If EU carmakers ...

Search This Blog