The company has obtained a net profit of 1,133 million euros, almost 27% less, due to the sale of 20% of Naturgy last year
Repsol obtained a net profit of 1,133 million euros in the first half of the year, which represents a decrease of 26.7% compared to 1,546 million euros in the same period of the previous year, in which the surplus-value was included 344 million euros from the sale of its 20% stake in the former Gas Natural Fenosa (Naturgy), the company informed the National Securities Market Commission (CNMV) on Wednesday.
The adjusted net profit of the oil company, which specifically measures business behavior, was 1,115 million euros until June, slightly lower than 1,132 million euros in the same first half of 2018.
The group chaired by Antonio Brufau points out that these “solid” results were achieved in a context of lower oil prices, falling international refining margins and with the suspension of production in Libya for almost half of the semester.
Thus, these results and the generation capacity of the group has allowed the board of directors of Repsol to propose to the next General Meeting an improvement in the remuneration to its shareholders through the amortization of 5% of the share capital.
Repsol indicated that the greater cash generation capacity shown by the company derives from the effective management of its assets in the current price scenario, which is based on this decision to buy back and redeem shares for a greater remuneration to its shareholders.
Last year, Repsol has already approved the repurchase ( buyback ) of distributed shares to offset the dilutive cash portion scrip dividend.
The update of the strategy of the oil company to 2020 provides for a dividend increase of 8% per year to place it at 0.95 euros in 2019 and recover the euro per share at the end of the period.
UPSTREAM FORTRESS
By business areas, upstream ( exploration and production) recorded a result of 646 million euros in the first half, in line with the same period of 2018.
In this first half of 2019, Repsol made in Indonesia the largest discovery on land recorded so far this year and began production of the Buckskin project in the US Gulf of Mexico.
The average production between January and June of the group stood at 697,200 equivalent barrels of oil per day (bep/d), compared to 724,100 in the same period of the previous year, mainly due to this temporary cessation of activity in Libya until 4 March, to maintenance activities in Trinidad and Tobago, divestment in Midcontinent (United States) and the expiration of the Jambi Merang license (Indonesia).
Meanwhile, the downstream business (Refining, Chemical, Mobility, Lubricants, LPG, Trading and Gas, and Repsol Electricity and Gas) reached 715 million euros in June, 6% lower than 762 million in the same period of 2018.
During the semester, the Refining area made scheduled stops at the Bilbao refineries, in which it invested 52 million euros; and A Coruña, where more than 60 million investment was allocated.
These works, which allowed the incorporation of technological, energy efficiency and safety improvements, will continue during the rest of the year in the facilities of Spain to ensure maximum availability when the new international regulations for marine fuels (IMO) come into force, which will benefit competitively To the company.
RENEWABLE
The commercial business continued to drive its innovative activity and inaugurated the first ultra-fast charging point on the Peninsula.
In addition, in its momentum of the low emission business, it announced the development of three ‘green’ projects with a total capacity of 800 megawatts (MW).
With these projects, which will be put into operation in the next four years, together with those of Valdesolar (Badajoz) and WindFloat (Portugal) and its current assets (2,952 MW), the company headed by Josu Jon Imaz will reach 90% of its strategic objective of low emission generation capacity, estimated at around 4,500 MW in 2025.