Oil majors post record profits as China weighs on AB InBev and ING cuts jobs
A busy results day shows how the energy crisis is creating winners and losers; Volkswagen also slumped deep into the red.
The wars in the Middle East and Ukraine are delivering exceptional profits for the big oil companies. TotalEnergies more than doubled its third-quarter net profit to 8.3 billion dollars, Shell came in at 12.1 billion dollars and Spain's Repsol quadrupled its profit over the first nine months, La Libre reports. According to Business AM, Shell's refining margins hit an unprecedented 42 dollars a barrel, and Shell will buy back 5 billion dollars of its own shares over the next three months. RTBF explains that refining in particular is boosting profits: with installations destroyed in the Middle East and Russia, those still producing earn far more per litre. Greenpeace puts the windfall profits on petrol and diesel in Belgium at 1.26 billion euros, RTBF writes.
For AB InBev the day was less festive. The brewer grew third-quarter revenue by 4.9 percent to 16.5 billion dollars, helped among other things by non-alcoholic beer, where revenue rose 35 percent, La Libre reports. HLN also points to the success of ready-to-drink cocktails. The interim dividend rises from 0.15 to 0.40 euros a share. Even so, the stock fell 3.23 percent to 70.68 euros, La Libre writes in its market report: sales in China dropped 16 percent. Business AM points to a slightly shrinking profit margin due to pricier raw materials and higher marketing spending. De Tijd describes the figures as coolly received; the Bel20 nevertheless closed 0.42 percent higher, thanks to pharmaceutical group UCB.
At ING, net profit rose to 1.85 billion euros, slightly below analysts' expectations, Business AM reports. The Dutch bank is overhauling its wholesale banking division and will cut around 400 jobs there from March. According to a source quoted by Belga, 12 jobs are affected in Belgium, La Libre writes. Elsewhere the news was worse: Volkswagen posted a third-quarter loss of 5.8 billion euros, mainly due to a writedown at its Porsche subsidiary, weak business in China and restructuring costs, HLN reports.