Anglo-Dutch oil company Royal Dutch Shell posted losses of $ 21.68 billion (€ 18.083 billion) in 2020, compared to a net profit of $ 15.842 billion (€ 13.214 billion) posted the previous year, as a result of the multi-million dollar impact of the amortizations made due to the impairment in the value of the company’s assets.
Specifically, the multinational recorded an adverse impact of 28,061 million dollars (23,402 million euros) from asset amortizations, compared to the charge of 4,155 million dollars (3,465 million euros) assumed in 2019, including a negative adjustment in the valuation of assets of 3,344 million dollars (2,789 million euros) in the fourth quarter of 2020.
The result attributable to Shell to current supply costs in the whole of last year showed losses of 19,922 million dollars (16,617 million euros), compared to gains of 15,270 million dollars (12,736 million euros) in 2019.
For its part, the turnover of the Anglo-Dutch oil company in 2020 reached 183,196 million dollars (152,803 million euros), 48% below the company’s revenues in all of 2019, including a 47% drop in the turnover of the last quarter of 2020, up to 45,028 million dollars (37,556 million euros).
Between October and December, Shell recorded losses of 4,014 million dollars (3,348 million euros), compared to gains of 965 million dollars (805 million euros), registered in the fourth quarter of 2019, while at current costs of Supply posted a negative quarterly result of 4,478 million dollars (3,735 million euros), compared to a profit of 871 million dollars (726 million euros) a year earlier.
“We come out of 2020 with a stronger balance sheet, ready to accelerate our strategy,” stated Royal Dutch Shell CEO Ben van Beurden, underscoring the company’s commitment to a progressive dividend policy so he is confident that he can raise 4% dividend per share for the first quarter of 2021.
In this sense, the multinational announced that it will pay a provisional dividend corresponding to the fourth quarter of 2020 in the amount of 0.1665 dollars and that it expects to pay a quarterly dividend charged to the first three months of fiscal year 2021 of 0.1735 dollars, which would represent an increase of 4.2%.
