(Calgary) Imperial Oil returned to profit in the fourth quarter, after seeing its results weighed down a year earlier by a billion-dollar non-cash charge.
Posted at 11:08 a.m.
The Calgary company took the opportunity to announce on Tuesday a 26% increase in its quarterly dividend, increasing it from 27 cents per share to 34 cents per share.
In the most recent quarter ended Dec. 31, Imperial posted net income of $813 million, or $1.18 per share, which compared to a net loss of $1.15 billion, or $1.56. per share, for the last months of 2020.
Imperial Oil said its revenue and other income totaled $12.3 billion, up from $6.03 billion a year earlier.
Overall production in the fourth quarter averaged the equivalent of 445,000 barrels of crude oil per day, down from 460,000 barrels per day in the same period in 2020.
Imperial attributed the drop in production mainly to the extremely cold temperatures recorded in December.
“The past year has demonstrated the strength of Imperial’s integrated business model and the value we have created by reducing structural costs and relentlessly prioritizing the reliability of our operations and profitable growth in our core businesses” , President and CEO Brad Corson said in a statement.
The prior fourth quarter results included a $1.17 billion non-cash charge related to the decision to no longer operate much of Imperial’s unconventional asset portfolio.