Total SA said it will raise its dividends from 2018 to 2020 following a surge in profit fueled by higher oil prices.
The French oil and gas giant's consolidated net income group share jumped 86% year over year to $1.02 billion in the fourth quarter of 2017 from $548 million. Earnings per share came in at 37 cents, up from 20 cents a year earlier.
Sales climbed to $47.35 billion in the fourth quarter of 2017 from $42.28 billion in the year-ago period.
On an adjusted basis, fourth-quarter net income rose 19% year over year to $2.87 billion from $2.41 billion. Earnings per share increased 15% to $1.10 from 96 cents a year ago.
In the 2017 fourth quarter, Total's adjusted net operating income rose 26% to $3.36 billion from $2.68 billion in the prior year. Adjusted net operating income soared 79% to $1.81 billion in the exploration and production segment, and leapt 76% to $232 million in the gas, renewables and power segment. In refining and chemicals, adjusted net operating income declined 22% to $886 million.
Full-year 2017 consolidated net income group share rose to $8.63 billion, or $3.34 per share, from $6.20 billion, or $2.51 per share, in 2016. Adjusted net income increased to $10.58 billion, or $4.12 per share, from $8.29 billion, or $3.38 per share.
Total "demonstrated its ability to capture the benefit of higher prices," Chairman and CEO Patrick Pouyanné said of the company's latest results. Brent crude averaged $54 per barrel in 2017, up from $44 per barrel in 2016, while remaining volatile.
The company also saw production costs fall to $5.40 for a barrel of oil equivalent in 2017, from $9.90 in 2014, Pouyanné added.
Total said its full-year 2017 dividend would be €2.48 per share, up 1.2% from 2016, with a four-quarter dividend of 62 euro cents per share payable in June.
Over the next three years, Total said it will boost dividends by 10%, with the 2018 interim dividend increasing by 3.2% to 64 euro cents per share. The full-year dividend targets for 2018 and 2020 are €2.56 per share and €2.72 per share, respectively.
Total also plans to buy back up to $5 billion of shares from 2018 to 2020 "to share with investors the benefits of the oil price upside," the company said in a release.
Total said it will maintain its cost-cutting strategy in 2018 to achieve more than $4 billion in savings and production costs of $5.50 per barrel of oil equivalent for the year. It projected about $14 billion in organic investments, in line with the target of $13 billion to $15 billion.
