![]() ![]() "The market should react positively, because it shows Berkshire is confident in its prospects." "Berkshire tends to go against the grain, and when so many companies suspended buybacks, Berkshire did the opposite," she said. 30, also took advantage of Berkshire's underperforming shares by repurchasing $5.1 billion of stock, even as the pandemic reduced other companies' ability to buy back their own shares.īerkshire's stock has significantly underperformed broader markets since the end of 2018, and Seifert said investors should welcome the buybacks. Precision ended 2019 with 33,417 employees, and has shed 30% of its workforce.ĭuring the quarter, Buffett, who turns 90 on Aug. "It's a recognition of what the market has long believed, that the purchase price was rich, and the integration not as smooth as many would have hoped."īerkshire, which paid $32.1 billion for Precision in 2016 in its largest acquisition, and which Buffett at the time called a steep price, said COVID-19 caused airlines to slash plane orders, significantly curbing demand for Precision's products.īuffett himself soured on airlines during the quarter, selling $6 billion of their stock and telling shareholders on May 2 the industry's future had become "much less clear to me."īerkshire said Precision, which also makes industrial parts, saw revenue fall by one-third and plans an "aggressive restructuring" to shrink operations. ![]() "The writedown was prudent," said Cathy Seifert, an equity analyst at CFRA Research. Operating profit fell 10%, cushioned by a temporary bump at the Geico auto insurer, as the pandemic caused "relatively minor to severe" damage to most of Berkshire's more than 90 operating businesses. LNG liquefaction volumes were slightly higher on the quarter, averaging 8 million tonnes.Despite the writedown, Berkshire said second-quarter net income surged 87% because of gains in stock investments such as Apple Inc as markets rebounded. Shell's fuel sales averaged 4.3 million barrels per day in the quarter, down from 4.45 million bpd in the previous quarter, Shell said. Earnings from oil trading are set to be "significantly higher" in the quarter.Ĭashflow in the quarter would be negatively impacted by "very significant" outflows of around $7 billion as a result of changes in the value of oil and gas inventories. Shell, the world's largest liquefied natural gas trader, said earnings from LNG trading were expected to be higher in the quarter compared with the previous three months. The unprecedented volatility in commodity prices in recent months has pushed several traders to the brink as they scrambled to sharply increase downpayments for oil and LNG cargoes. Shell did not provide any guidance on the future of its stakes in Russian projects.īenchmark oil prices soared to an average of more than $100 a barrel in the quarter, their highest since 2014, while European gas prices hit a record high. Shell said it will exit all its Russian operations, including a major liquefied natural gas plant in the Sakhalin peninsula in the eastern flank of the country. The start of 2022 marked one of the most turbulent periods in decades for the oil and gas industry as Western companies including Shell rapidly pulled out of Russia, severing trading ties and winding down joint ventures following Moscow's invasion of Ukraine. Shell shares were down 1.2% at the start of London trading. The increase was due to additional potential impacts around contracts, writedowns of receivables, and credit losses in Russia, a Shell spokesperson said. Shell, whose market capitalisation is around $210 billion, had previously said the Russia writedowns would reach around $3.4 billion. The post-tax impairments of between $4 billion and $5 billion in the first quarter will not impact the company's earnings, Shell said in an update ahead of its earnings announcement on May 5. ![]()
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