SUMMARY OF UNAUDITED RESULTS
| Quarters $ million | Full year $ million | ||||||
| Q4 2024 | Q3 2024 | Q4 2023 | %1 | 2024 | 2023 | % | |
928 | 4,291 | 474 | -78 | Income/(loss) attributable to Shell plc Shareholders | 16,093 | 19,359 | -17 |
| 3,661 | 6,028 | 7,306 | -39 | Adjusted Earnings | 23,716 | 28,250 | -16 |
| 14,281 | 16,005 | 16,335 | -11 | Adjusted EBITDA | 65,803 | 68,538 | -4 |
13,162 | 14,684 | 12,575 | -10 | Cash flow from operating activities | 54,684 | 54,191 | +1 |
(4,431) | (3,857) | (5,657) | Cash flow from investing activities | (15,154) | (17,734) | ||
| 8,731 | 10,827 | 6,918 | Free cash flow | 39,530 | 36,457 | ||
| 6,924 | 4,950 | 7,113 | Cash capital expenditure | 21,084 | 24,392 | ||
| 9,401 | 9,570 | 10,897 | -2 | Operating expenses | 36,918 | 39,960 | -8 |
9,138 | 8,864 | 10,565 | +3 | Underlying operating expenses | 35,707 | 39,201 | -9 |
| 11.3% | 12.8% | 12.8% | ROACE2 | 11.3% | 12.8% | ||
| 77,078 | 76,613 | 81,541 | Total debt | 77,078 | 81,541 | ||
| 38,809 | 35,234 | 43,542 | Net debt | 38,809 | 43,542 | ||
| 17.7% | 15.7% | 18.8% | Gearing | 17.7% | 18.8% | ||
2,815 | 2,801 | 2,827 | +1 | Oil and gas production available for sale (thousand boe/d) | 17.7% | 18.8% | |
| 0.15 | 0.69 | 0.07 | -78 | Basic earnings per share ($) | 2.55 | 2.88 | -11 |
| 0.60 | 0.96 | 1.11 | -38 | Adjusted earnings per share ($) | 3.76 | 4.20 | -10 |
| 0.3580 | 0.3440 | 0.3440 | +4 | Dividend per share ($) | 1.3900 | 1.2935 | +7 |
1.Q4 on Q3 change
2.Effective first quarter 2024, the definition has been amended and comparative information has been revised.
Income attributable to Shell plc shareholders, compared with the third quarter 2024, reflected higher exploration well write-offs, lower margins from crude and oil products trading and optimisation, lower Marketing margins and volumes, lower LNG trading and optimisation margins, lower realised oil prices, and unfavourable tax movements.
Fourth quarter 2024 income attributable to Shell plc shareholders also included net impairment charges and reversals of $2.2 billion, and net losses related to sale of assets. These items are included in identified items amounting to a net loss of $2.8 billion in the quarter. This compares with identified items in the third quarter 2024 which amounted to a net loss of $1.3 billion.
Adjusted Earnings and Adjusted EBITDA2 were driven by the same factors as income attributable to Shell plc shareholders and adjusted for the above identified items.
Cash flow from operating activities for the fourth quarter 2024 was $13.2 billion, and primarily driven by Adjusted EBITDA, and working capital inflows of $2.4 billion partly offset by tax payments of $2.9 billion, and outflows relating to the timing impact of payments relating to emission certificates and biofuel programmes of $1.4 billion. The working capital inflows mainly reflected accounts receivable and payable movements, and initial margin inflow.
Cash flow from investing activities for the quarter was an outflow of $4.4 billion, and included cash capital expenditure of $6.9 billion, partly offset by net other investing cash inflows of $1.1 billion, and divestment proceeds of $0.8 billion.
Net debt and Gearing: At the end of the fourth quarter 2024, net debt was $38.8 billion, compared with $35.2 billion at the end of the third quarter 2024, mainly reflecting lease additions of $5.4 billion, share buybacks, cash dividends paid to Shell plc shareholders, and interest payments, partly offset by free cash flow. Gearing was 17.7% at the end of the fourth quarter 2024, compared with 15.7% at the end of the third quarter 2024, mainly driven by higher net debt.
Shareholder distributions
Total shareholder distributions in the quarter amounted to $5.7 billion comprising repurchases of shares of $3.6 billion and cash dividends paid to Shell plc shareholders of $2.1 billion. Dividends declared to Shell plc shareholders for the fourth quarter 2024 amount to $0.3580 per share. Shell has now completed $3.5 billion of share buybacks announced in the third quarter 2024 results announcement. Today, Shell announces a share buyback programme of $3.5 billion which is expected to be completed by the first quarter 2025 results announcement.
Full Year Analysis
Income attributable to Shell plc shareholders, compared with the full year 2023, reflected lower LNG trading and optimisation margins, lower realised prices, lower refining margins, as well as lower trading and optimisation margins of power and pipeline gas in Renewables and Energy Solutions, partly offset by lower operating expenses, and higher realised Chemicals margins.
By focusing the portfolio and simplifying the organisation, $3.1 billion of pre-tax structural cost reductions3 were delivered through 2024 compared with 2022 levels, with $2.1 billion in the full year 2024.
Full year 2024 income attributable to Shell plc shareholders also included net impairment charges and reversals of $4.4 billion, reclassifications from equity to profit and loss of cumulative currency translation differences related to funding structures, unfavourable movements relating to an accounting mismatch due to fair value accounting of commodity derivatives, and charges related to redundancy and restructuring. These charges, reclassifications and movements are included in identified items amounting to a net loss of $7.4 billion. This compares with identified items in the full year 2023 which amounted to a net loss of $8.2 billion.
Adjusted Earnings and Adjusted EBITDA2 for the full year 2024 were driven by the same factors as income attributable to Shell plc shareholders and adjusted for identified items and the cost of supplies adjustment of positive $0.3 billion.
Cash flow from operating activities for the full year 2024 was $54.7 billion, and primarily driven by Adjusted EBITDA, and working capital inflows of $2.1 billion, partly offset by tax payments of $12.0 billion.
Cash flow from investing activities for the full year 2024 was an outflow of $15.2 billion and included cash capital expenditure of $21.1 billion, partly offset by divestment proceeds of $2.8 billion, and interest received of $2.4 billion.