TotalEnergies to Increase Dividends and Shareholder Payouts

By Pierre Bertrand

TotalEnergies has announced plans to raise its dividends and increase shareholder payouts in 2023, following in the footsteps of other energy companies such as Shell, BP, and Equinor.

The French oil and gas company will distribute a cumulative dividend of €3.01 ($3.24) per share for 2023, representing a 7.1% increase from the previous year. In addition, they have proposed a final interim dividend of €0.79 per share.

By 2024, TotalEnergies aims to return more than 40% of its cash flow from operations (excluding working capital) to shareholders. This includes a 6.8% increase in interim dividends to €0.79 per share and $2 billion of share buybacks in Q1 2024.

TotalEnergies joins a growing list of energy companies that are prioritizing generous returns for their shareholders. BP and Shell have announced plans to buy back $1.75 billion and $3.5 billion of shares respectively in Q1 2022. Meanwhile, Equinor plans to buy back between $10 billion and $12 billion of shares over the next two years, with up to $6 billion earmarked for this year. Last year, Equinor bought back $6 billion of shares.

The decision to increase dividends comes after TotalEnergies reported a net profit of $5.06 billion in Q4 2021, up from $3.26 billion the previous year. However, this fell short of analysts' expectations of $5.65 billion. Sales also decreased from $68.58 billion to $59.24 billion.

TotalEnergies expects its hydrocarbon production to grow by 2% this year, with the first quarter projected to exceed 2.4 million barrels of oil equivalent per day, thanks to the commencement of operations at Mero 2 in Brazil. The company also anticipates that production will further benefit from project start-ups in the U.S. and Denmark.

In terms of future investments, TotalEnergies plans to allocate $17 billion to $18 billion in 2024. Additionally, they anticipate that their refining utilization rate will surpass 85%.