Petrobras smashes profit estimates
RIO DE JANEIRO: Petrobras’ Brazil-listed shares jumped almost 7 per cent on Friday, hiting a 12year high, ater the state-run oil company smashed quarterly profit estimates and announced a record dividend payment.
The company announced on thursday at er noon an 87.8 billion-real ($17 billion) dividend payout, the largest ever, sending the firm’s shares up some 3.3 per cent in intraday trade. Ater the market close, the firm posted a second quarter profit of 54.33 billion reais, well above analysts’ estimates, buoyed by higher margins in its fuel business.
The company was on track for its fith straight day in the black, with accumulated gains this week coming to 16 per cent.
Petrobras’ share performance illustrates how the street has been wooed by a generous dividend policy, solid profits and high demand for the company’s products given the supply crunch provoked by the War in Ukraine, even as the firm has spent much of 2022 in a management crisis.
The company has had four chief executives this year, and is set to replace its board in August. Should former letist president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva win the October election - which polls indicate is likely - a major strategy shit would almost certainly ensue.
In a note to clients, analysts at Brazil’s Itau BBA called Petrobras’ dividend payment “very positive,” saying it exceeded even the bank’s “bullish” estimate.
In a call with analysts on Friday, executives said they expected the company’s high refinery utilisation rates to continue through the rest of 2022.
Utilisation rates hit 99 per cent this week, said downstream chief Rodrigo Costa e Lima, and they should average 86 per cent through the second half of the year.
Executives also sought to assuage any concerns provoked by a recent policy change allowing the board to review domestic fuel pricing, saying board members have no veto power over executives’ pricing decisions.