Shell announce second quarter 2021 results
Second quarter 2021 income attributable to Royal Dutch Shell plc shareholders was $3.4 billion, which included posttax impairment charges of $1.8 billion and charges of $1.2 billion due to the fair value accounting of commodity derivatives.
Adjusted Earnings for the quarter were $5.5 billion. Cost of supplies adjustment attributable to Royal Dutch Shell plc shareholders for the second quarter 2021 was negative $0.8 billion.
Cash flow from operating activities for the second quarter 2021 was $12.6 billion, which included negative working capital movements of $1.6 billion. Cash flow from investing activities for the quarter was an outflow of $2.9 billion, mainly driven by capital expenditure and partly offset by proceeds from sale of property, plant and equipment and businesses.
Compared with the first quarter 2021, current quarter Adjusted Earnings reflected higher realised oil prices, one-off favourable tax impacts, higher marketing margins and lower operating expenses. This was partly offset by lower contributions from trading and optimisation.
At the end of the second quarter 2021, net debt was $65.7 billion, compared with $71.3 billion at the end of the first quarter 2021, mainly driven by free cash flow generation in the quarter. Gearing was 27.7% at the end of the second quarter 2021, compared with 29.9% at the end of the first quarter 2021, mainly driven by net debt reduction and improved earnings.
Dividends declared to Royal Dutch Shell plc shareholders for the quarter amount to $0.24 per share. Share buybacks of $2 billion launched today which is targeted to be completed by the end of 2021.
Royal Dutch Shell Chief Executive Officer, Ben van Beurden Commented, “We are stepping up our shareholder distributions today, increasing dividends and starting share buybacks, while we continue to invest for the future of energy. The quality of Shell’s operational and financial delivery and strengthened balance sheet have given the Board confidence to rebase the dividend per share from Q2 2021 onwards to 24 US cents. We are also launching $2 billion of share buybacks, which is targeted to be completed by the end of this year. Total shareholder distributions for 2021 are expected to be around the middle of the 20-30% range of CFFO from the previous four quarters. Our progressive dividend policy to grow dividends per share by 4% annually, subject to Board approval, remains unchanged.”
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