Energy giant Royal Dutch Shell yesterday said its net profit surged 80% to $23.4bn in 2018, thanks to higher oil prices and cost cuts.
Profit after tax had come in at almost $13bn in 2017, the Anglo-Dutch giant said in a statement.
“We delivered on our promises for the year, including the completion of the $30bn divestment programme and starting up key growth projects while maintaining discipline on capital investment,” Shell chief executive Ben van Beurden said.
Oil prices jumped last year on tight supply concerns but have since fallen back sharply, in line with volatility seen across financial markets.
“Of course, the generally higher oil price over the year gave a boost to the numbers” at Shell, noted Richard Hunter, head of markets at Interactive Investor.
He said “the ongoing benefits of a multi-year streamlining operation are crystal clear”.
Shell said its production of oil and gas steadied last year at 3.7mn barrels per day.
Shell said in 2018 it planned to buy back $25bn worth of its shares through to the end of 2020.


United Parcel Service
United Parcel Service Inc’s multi-billion-dollar effort to revamp its network helped it deliver better-than-expected profit in the crucial holiday fourth quarter, driving down costs as e-commerce deliveries surged to record levels.
UPS spent $6.6bn in 2018 as part of a three-year plan to automate package-sorting hubs, make routes more efficient and invest in airplanes and other equipment.
Net income fell to $453mn, or 52 cents per share, in the fourth quarter ended December 31, from $1.10bn, or $1.26 per share, a year earlier, when it booked a gain from changes to the US tax law.
UPS booked a $1.2bn after-tax pension charge, double that from the year earlier, due to the fourth-quarter US stock market swoon.
On an adjusted basis, it earned $1.94 per share, beating analysts’ estimates by 4 cents.
Revenue rose to $19.85bn from $18.98bn.
US revenue was up almost 6% at $12.6bn, helped by a nearly 5% increase in revenue per parcel.
International revenue increased 2.9% to $3.8bn.


Bank Pekao 
Poland’s second biggest state-controlled lender Bank Pekao aims to increase net profit this year despite rising market competition chief financial officer Tomasz Kubiak said.
In 2018, Pekao booked net profit of around 2.2bn zloty ($591.35mn), according to the average of analysts’ estimates, published by the bank.
The bank will release its 2018 financial report in February.
Kubiak also said Pekao plans to increase its dividends in future years, after the regulator KNF issued a recommendation for the bank to pay out only 75% of 2018 net profit as dividend, compared to the lender’s previous expectation of 90-100%.
Looking to compensate shareholders for the shortfall, which hit shares, Kubiak said it would raise dividend in future years.
Kubiak ruled out a share buy-back to compensate investors for 2018’s lower dividend.


Mastercard 
Mastercard Inc joined rival Visa Inc in reporting a bigger-than-expected quarterly profit, as a strong holiday season led to a surge in transactions on its payments network, sending its shares up 5% before the bell.
It processed 24.7bn transactions in the quarter, up 21% on a local currency basis.
Mastercard’s cross-border payments on a dollar basis fell to 13.8% from 22.4% a year earlier.
New York-based Mastercard’s net income rose to $1.6bn, or $1.55 per share, from $1.2bn, or $1.14 per share, a year earlier.
Analysts were expecting a profit of $1.52 per share.
Net revenue rose to $3.81bn from $3.31bn, brushing past analysts’ estimates of $3.79bn, according to IBES data from Refinitiv.


Unilever 
Unilever reported lower-than-expected fourth-quarter sales yesterday, hurt by troubles in Latin America and weak growth in developed markets as new chief executive Alan Jope took over.
The maker of Dove soap and Ben & Jerry’s ice cream said fourth-quarter underlying sales rose 2.9%. Analysts, on average, were expecting 3.5%, a consensus forecast supplied by the company showed.
Unilever reported full-year sales growth of 3.1%, in line with its forecast for growth at the bottom end of its 3 to 5% forecast range.
In the fourth quarter, Unilever blamed Argentina, which makes up 2.5% of its overall business, for hyperinflation that led prices to spike more than 50% and therefore volume to fall more than 20%. But more broadly, sales volume in the Americas was flat.
The same happened in Europe, though the company eked out 0.8% sales growth in the region.
Overall, underlying sales in developed markets grew only 0.4% in the quarter.
The company blamed competitive pressures in North America, particular in ice cream and mayonnaise.
For the full year, Unilever reported turnover of €49.6bn ($57.05bn), excluding its divested spreads business, with underlying sales up 3.1%, in line with expectations.
Its full-year underlying earnings were €2.36 per share, topping analysts’ estimates of 2.31 per share.


General Electric 
General Electric reported a profitable fourth quarter yesterday amid a big annual loss as it announced a preliminary $1.5bn settlement with US officials over subprime mortgages.
Profit for the fourth quarter was $574mn, compared with a loss of $11bn in the year-ago period due to one-time expenses, including for US tax reform.
Revenues were $33.3bn, up 5.3%. The once-mighty industrial giant, which was thrown out of the prestigious Dow index last year amid a prolonged slump, continued to struggle in its power division, which suffered an $872mn loss.
GE downgraded its power assets earlier this year, a key factor in the annual loss of $22.8bn in 2018.
But GE’s other industrial divisions were profitable and chief executive H Lawrence Culp said a turnaround was on track.
GE said it reached a $1.5bn settlement with the Justice Department connected to subprime mortgages a company unit acquired between 2005 and 2007 ahead of the 2008 financial crisis.
GE’s quarterly profits translated to 17 cents per share, below the 22 cents anticipated by analysts.
But revenues came in above the estimate of $32.6bn.


Raytheon 
Tomahawk missile maker Raytheon Co reported an 8.5% rise in fourth-quarter revenue yesterday, boosted by higher demand for its weapons, but a conservative 2019 profit forecast sent shares down.
The US weapons maker forecast 2019 profit in the range of $11.40 to $11.60 per share, which came in below analysts’ average estimate of $11.78 per share, according to IBES data from Refinitiv.
Raytheon said operating cash flow from continuing operations is expected to be in the range of $3.9bn to $4.1bn in 2019, compared with $3.4bn in the previous year.
But the mid-point of the forecast fell short of analysts’ average estimate of about $4.1bn.
Raytheon reported higher sales across its five segments, led by its missile systems unit, where sales rose 6% to about $2.32bn.
Operating margin in the missile systems unit, which makes Paveway smart bombs and advanced medium-range air-to-air missiles, fell to 11.8% in the quarter ended December 31 from 12.7% a year earlier, due to a change in mix.
Revenue in the quarter rose to $7.36bn from $6.78bn a year earlier.
Raytheon’s net income attributable to the company jumped to $832mn, or $2.93 per share, in the quarter, compared with $393mn, or $1.35 per share, a year earlier, benefiting from lower taxes related to the US tax overhaul.
Sales at the space and airborne systems unit, which makes electronic warfare systems for tactical aircraft, helicopters and ships, rose 12.6% to $1.88bn, but operating margins fell to 13.9% from 14.5%.


BT
BT Group’s outgoing CEO Gavin Patterson said he was handing over a company with the momentum needed to see through a major restructuring and withstand pressures ranging from demands from regulators to aggressive competition in consumer broadband.
Philip Januaryen, a former Worldpay chief executive, takes the helm at Britain’s biggest broadband provider on Friday, eight months after Patterson launched a cost-cutting plan to tackle financial and operational underperformance.
BT reported revenue of £5.98bn ($7.85bn), down 1%, and core earnings of £1.88bn, down 3%, for the quarter to the end of December, beating analysts’ expectations of 5.93bn pounds and 1.82bn pounds respectively.
Revenue and earnings grew strongly in its consumer business, helped by a September price increase and higher handset costs, offset by a decline in its enterprise business and in its Openreach networks arm, which was hit by regulated price cuts.
It said adjusted core earnings for the year to end-March would be around the top end of guidance of £7.3bn to £7.4bn.


Nokia 
Finnish telecoms equipment maker Nokia published better-than-expected fourth-quarter results yesterday, but revised downward its forecast for its networks business in early 2019.
Nokia reported a profit of €193mn ($221mn) for October-December last year, marking a strong end to an otherwise challenging year, and a notable improvement on the same quarter a year earlier, when the firm posted a loss of 386mn euros.
Its adjusted operating profit for the quarter was €1.12bn, an increase of 12% on the previous year and surpassing analysts’ predictions of €1.0bn.
The performance of Nokia’s networks division, which represents 90% of its revenues, proved particularly strong in the final quarter of 2018.
Net sales for the division were €6.2bn for the period, a year-on-year increase of seven%, compared to a three% increase for the group as a whole.
Nokia Networks also reported 30% year-on-year growth in its quarterly operating profit, up to €841mn.
Despite a 30% decline in earnings per share over 2018 compared to the previous year, Nokia announced a dividend of €0.20 per share for the year, up from 0.19 in 2017.
Nokia reported having reached its cost savings target of €1.2bn between 2016 and 2018, in part by consolidating with Alcatel-Lucent, which Nokia acquired in 2016.
In October the company announced a further €700mn of savings by 2020, of which 500mn are expected to come from operating expenses.
Earlier this month Nokia announced the reduction of 460 Alcatel-Lucent posts in France, the third round of restructuring at the subsidiary since 2016.


H&M
Sweden’s H&M disappointed investors with a 10% tumble in quarterly profit, the world’s second largest fashion retailer blaming investment aimed at boosting its online business for the decline.
Profit fell for the third straight year in 2018 because of competition from the likes of Zara, Primark and ASOS and as the shift to online shopping hit trading at its core budget stores.
Shares in the Swedish company were down 1.7% after pretax profit for September-November shrank for the sixth straight quarter to 4.4bn crowns ($482mn). That was down from 4.9bn crowns a year earlier and well below analysts’ mean forecast in a Reuters poll for an increase to 5.1bn crowns.
Data out yesterday showed German retail sales plummeted by 4.3% on the month in December, the fastest fall in 11 years.
H&M company proposed an unchanged dividend of 9.75 crowns per share for 2018.


Nomura Holdings
Nomura Holdings has put its wholesale business under review after the segment drove Japan’s biggest brokerage and investment bank to its heaviest quarterly loss in nearly 10 years.
The bank said in a statement its October-December net loss came in at ¥95.3bn ($876.64mn), down from a profit of ¥88bn a year earlier and compared with the ¥30.9bn average profit estimate of two analysts compiled by Reuters.
Nomura said it booked an impairment charge of 81bn yen during the period.
The surprise second straight quarterly loss was the steepest since the January-March quarter of 2009 when the bank recorded a 215.8bn yen loss, reflecting costs to integrate Lehman’s operations.
For the third quarter, Nomura’s wholesale segment recorded a pre-tax loss of ¥95.9bn, down from a profit of ¥14bn a year earlier.
Its retail business also suffered a steep profit fall, posting a pre-tax profit of ¥14bn compared with ¥31.3bn a year earlier, as individual investors sat on the sidelines amid turmoil in the market.
Nomura said its equity business got a boost from SoftBank Corp’s $23.5bn initial public offering last year.
Nomura was one of its joint global coordinators, selling about ¥600bn worth of shares, mostly to Japan’s retail investors.
Japan’s largest IPO brought a bonanza to Nomura’s rivals as well, but ironically, it was also SoftBank that helped cool retail investor sentiment.


Banco Bradesco
Brazil’s second largest private lender Banco Bradesco SA reported a 19.9% rise in fourth-quarter profit over a year earlier and beat analysts’ average estimate on lower loan-loss provisions.
Recurring net income at Banco Bradesco came in at 5.830bn reais ($1.58bn) in the fourth quarter, 5.5% above the Refinitiv average estimate by analysts of 5.526bn reais.
Loan-loss provision went down by 31.8% year-on-year, as clients’ credit-worthiness has improved amid Brazil’s gradual economic recovery.
The bank’s profitability also rose in the fourth quarter, reaching 19.7%, up 0.7 percentage points from the previous quarter.
Bradesco has been trying to boost the profitability of retail clients acquired in its purchase of the local unit of HSBC Holdings Plc to boost the bank’s return on equity.
The default ratio over 90 days came in at 3.5%, down 0.1 percentage point from the third quarter


Roche
Roche expects sales and earnings to rise in 2019 as new drugs more than offset competition from copies of its $20 billion-plus per year trio of cancer medicines Rituxan, Herceptin and Avastin, the Swiss drugmaker said yesterday.
Core operating profit last year climbed 9% to 20.5bn Swiss francs ($20.65bn), the company said.
Sales rose 7% to 56.8bn francs, just ahead of the 56.4bn francs average estimate in a Reuters poll.
The company proposed a dividend increase to 8.70 francs per share, from 8.30 francs last year.
Net profit rose 24% to 10.9bn francs, as the company was helped by US tax reform that lowered its tax rate.


Samsung Electronics
Samsung Electronics, the world’s biggest smartphone and memory chip maker, reported a slump in fourth-quarter net profits yesterday, blaming a drop in demand for its key products.
Net profits in the October-December period were 8.46tn won ($7.6bn), it said, down 31% year-on-year.
For the full year 2018, the firm reported record net profits of 44.3tn won, up 5.1% year-on-year.
But it projected overall earnings to fall this year, “due to weaker performance by the memory business”.


Facebook 
Facebook said on Wednesday that quarterly profit climbed to an all-time record $6.9bn as it boosted its global user base despite scandals that have dented the leading social network’s image.
Revenue soared 30% from a year ago to $16.9bn while the number of people using Facebook monthly rose nine% to 2.32bn, the company said in its fourth quarter update.
Net profit for Facebook, which makes most of its money from online advertising, was up a strong 61% from the same period last year.


Tesla
Tesla Inc warned on Wednesday it will need to begin building cars in China and lower the price of its Model 3 sedan to make money in every 2019 quarter, as it failed to meet Wall Street profit expectations at the end of 2018.
The company also announced that its chief financial officer, Deepak Ahuja, would retire, extending a slide in shares after hours to nearly 6%. Chief executive Elon Musk insisted that demand for the Model 3 was not an issue, as the company begins to ship the car to Europe and Asia from its Fremont, California factory.
But he acknowledged it was paramount to cut costs to lower the price of the vehicle for a wider customer base.
The company made a net profit of $139.5mn in the three months ended December 31, compared with a $311.5mn in the third quarter, when it benefited from regulatory credits.
Excluding items, Tesla earned $1.93 per share, missing expectations of $2.20 per share, according to IBES data from Refinitiv.
Tesla’s total revenue rose 5.9% to $7.23bn, beating the analyst average estimate of $7.08bn.


Visa 
Visa Inc beat Wall Street estimates for quarterly profit on Wednesday, as the payments network processed more transactions on the back of higher consumer spending during the holiday season.
Visa’s total payments volumes and the number of processed transactions rose 11% each, sending its shares up about 3% after the bell.
Net income at the world’s largest payment processor rose to $2.98bn, or $1.30 per Class A share, in the first quarter ended December
31, from $2.52bn, or $1.07 cents per Class A share, a year earlier.
Excluding one-time items, Visa earned $1.30 per share, beating the analyst average estimate of $1.25, according to IBES data from Refinitiv. Net revenue rose 13.24% to $5.51bn in the quarter.


Microsoft 
Microsoft said on Wednesday it swung to profit in the past quarter on gains in cloud computing and business services, but shares took a hit on disappointing revenue growth.
The US tech giant said profit was $8.4bn in the fiscal second quarter to December 31, compared with a loss in the same period a year ago on funds set aside for one-time charges,
Revenues in the period rose 12% to $32.5bn, Microsoft said in results a shade below most market forecasts, prompting a drop of some 3.5% in after-hours trade.
Chief executive Satya Nadella said Microsoft continues to see gains from its cloud services after having shifted away from many of its consumer offerings.
Revenues jumped 20% for Microsoft’s “intelligent cloud” services, the business and artificial intelligence unit that has become a core for the company.
The company saw a 5% drop from revenue in Windows, the dominant software for personal computers, but a 39% gain from Surface, its hardware division that makes tablets and other devices.
Gaming revenue edged up 8% led by Xbox software and services growth and search advertising saw a 14% gain in revenues.


Baker Hughes
Baker Hughes, General Electric Co’s oilfield services arm, posted an 85% jump in adjusted quarterly profit yesterday, boosted by surging demand for its services.
Revenue in Baker Hughes’ oilfield services, which accounts for roughly half of total sales, rose 10% to $3.1bn in the reported quarter.
The company reported $6.9bn in orders, up from $5.7bn last year and the largest in roughly three years.
Orders in its oilfield equipment business more than doubled from the prior year to over $1bn.
Last year marked Baker Hughes’ first full year combined with General Electric, which bought a stake in the services firm in 2017.
In November, General Electric reduced its ownership from roughly 62.5% to 50.4%.
Baker Hughes said it has reached commercial agreements with General Electric to position its company for the future.
The company reported an adjusted net income of $120mn, or 26 cents per share, in the fourth quarter ended December 31, in line with analysts’ expectations. Last year, the company reported a fourth-quarter adjusted net income of $65mn, or 15 cents per share.