Shell reins in share buyback programme after profit halves – Gulf Today

Shell reins in share buyback programme after profit halves – Gulf Today

Royal Dutch Shell is reining in its vast $25 billion share buyback programme after lower oil and natural gas prices halved its profit in the last three months of 2019 and sent its shares to their lowest in nearly three years.. Shell's shares traded in London slumped more than 4% and were 2.8% lower, underperforming the overall FTSE 100 index, which was down 0.7% mainly on fears about the fallout from the coronavirus.. Shell had already warned in October that the buyback programme could miss its target because slowing global growth due to the Sino-US trade war had hit demand for oil, natural gas and chemicals.. Shell's fourth-quarter headline profit fell 48% to $2.9 billion from $5.7 billion in the same period of 2018, its lowest in more than three years, as weaker oil and gas prices pushed the company to take a $1.65 billion charge on its US gas fields.. Weaker crude oil and gas prices drove quarterly results sharply lower at Exxon Mobil Corporation and Chevron Corporation, pushing down shares at the two largest US oil producers and signaling a weak start to the new year..