Eni SpA extended its share buyback program after profits surged due to high oil and gas prices.
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(Bloomberg) — Eni SpA extended its share buyback program after profits surged due to high oil and gas prices.
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The Italian oil giant will repurchase a further 1.3 billion euros ($1.3 billion) of shares this year, raising the total to 2.4 billion euros, which is close to the top end of the previously specified buyback range.
Investors in Big Oil are receiving a windfall after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine disrupted energy supplies and sent prices soaring. Almost every major European oil company to report second-quarter earnings so far, from Norway’s Equinor ASA to France’s TotalEnergies SE, has boosted shareholder returns after their profits surged.
“Financial delivery is underpinned by our continued efforts on efficiency and cost control,” Chief Executive Officer Claudio Descalzi said in a statement on Friday. “Based on these robust results and our updated market outlook, we are enhancing shareholders’ distributions.”
Eni’s second-quarter adjusted net income was 3.81 billion euros, up from 929 million euros a year earlier and beating the average analyst estimate of 3.14 billion euros.
Eni has been helping the Italian government to diversify gas supply away from Russia since the war started in late February. The country has reached deals to increase gas imports from African countries including Algeria, Congo, Angola, and also from the Middle-East.
Image and article originally from financialpost.com. Read the original article here.