Total 4Q Profit Plunges on Year But Bounces on Quarter; Vows to Boost Renewables Investment -- Earnings Review

By Giulia Petroni

Total SE reported fourth-quarter and full-year results earlier on Tuesday. Here's what we watched:

PROFIT: Net profit for the quarter came in at $891 million, down 66% from $2.60 billion in the same period of 2019, but marked an improvement from the third quarter, when Total booked a net profit of $202 million. On an adjusted basis, profit was $1.30 billion in 4Q, beating a FactSet-compiled consensus that had forecast the figure at $1.16 billion.

PRODUCTION: Hydrocarbon production fell 9% year-on-year to 2.84 million barrels of oil equivalent a day in the fourth quarter, from 3.11 million boe/d a year ago, partly due to OPEC quotas, maintenance and unplanned outages, the natural decline of fields and portfolio effects. A consensus estimate provided by FactSet had projected output of 2.86 million boe/d.

WHAT WE WATCHED:

DIVIDEND: The French oil-and-gas major will propose a final dividend of 66 European cents ($0.80) a share, in line with the previous three quarters. The dividend for 2020 has been set at EUR2.64 a share, compared with EUR2.68 for 2019.

NET INVESTMENTS: The company projects net investment of $12 billion for 2021, but said it may mobilize additional investments if the oil-and-gas environment strengthens. More than 20% of the budget will be allocated to renewables and electricity.

REBRANDING: The company plans to change its name to TotalEnergies to reflect its strategy and ambition to transition toward cleaner forms of energy and eventually carbon neutrality. The rebranded company will focus on gases, renewables and electricity, liquids, and carbon sinks. The new name will be proposed to shareholders at the next annual general meeting on May 28.

Write to Giulia Petroni at giulia.petroni@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

February 09, 2021 10:15 ET (15:15 GMT)

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