Shell announces commencement of a share buyback programme

Rhea-AI Summary

Shell plc has announced a $3.5 billion share buyback programme set to be completed before their Q1 2025 results announcement on May 2, 2025. The programme aims to reduce the company's issued share capital, with all repurchased shares being cancelled.

The company has established two contracts with a single broker: a $2.1 billion London contract for purchases on London market exchanges and a $1.4 billion Netherlands contract for Netherlands exchanges, running until April 25, 2025. The maximum number of ordinary shares that may be purchased under the programme is 420,000,000, aligned with shareholder authorities granted at Shell's 2024 Annual General Meeting.

The broker will make independent trading decisions, and the programme will be conducted in accordance with UK Listing Rules, EU Market Abuse Regulation, and related delegated regulations.

Positive

• Substantial $3.5 billion share buyback program indicates strong financial position
• Buyback reduces share count, potentially increasing earnings per share
• Clear timeline and execution strategy with completion by Q1 2025 results

Negative

• Large capital expenditure reduces cash available for other investments
• Fixed buyback commitment might limit financial flexibility

Insights

Financial Analyst

Shell's newly announced $3.5 billion share buyback program represents a significant strategic move in capital allocation. The program's structure is particularly noteworthy, with a dual-market approach splitting $2.1 billion for London exchanges and $1.4 billion for Netherlands exchanges, reflecting Shell's Anglo-Dutch heritage and liquidity optimization strategy.

The three-month completion timeline and pre-Q1 2025 results target suggest confident cash flow projections. The commitment to cancel all repurchased shares, rather than holding them in treasury, indicates a focused strategy on permanent capital structure optimization and enhancing shareholder value through reduced share count.

The maximum authorization of 420 million shares provides substantial flexibility, representing approximately 3.5% of Shell's outstanding shares. The program's execution through irrevocable, non-discretionary contracts with independent broker decision-making demonstrates strong corporate governance and compliance with both UK and EU regulations.

This buyback signals management's confidence in Shell's operational performance and cash generation capacity, particularly notable given the current market dynamics in the energy sector. The structured approach to market purchases, with clear geographic allocation and regulatory frameworks, should help minimize market impact while maximizing program effectiveness.

Shell plc

Shell announces commencement of a share buyback programme

January 30, 2025

Shell plc (the ‘Company’) today announces the commencement of a $3.5 billion share buyback programme covering an aggregate contract term of approximately three months (the ‘programme’). The purpose of the programme is to reduce the issued share capital of the Company. All shares repurchased as part of the programme will be cancelled. It is intended that, subject to market conditions, the programme will be completed prior to the Company’s Q1 2025 results announcement, scheduled for May 2, 2025.

The Company has entered into an arrangement with a single broker consisting of two irrevocable, non-discretionary contracts, to enable the purchase of ordinary shares on both London market exchanges (the London Stock Exchange and/or on BATS and/or on Chi-X) (pursuant to one ‘London contract’) and Netherlands exchanges (Euronext Amsterdam and/or on CBOE Europe DXE and/or on Turquoise Europe) (pursuant to one ‘Netherlands contract’) for a period up to and including April 25, 2025. The aggregate maximum consideration for the purchase of ordinary shares under the London contract is $2.1 billion and the maximum consideration for the purchase of ordinary shares under the Netherlands contract is $1.4 billion. Purchases under the London contract will be carried out in accordance with the Company’s authority¹ to repurchase shares on-market and will be effected within certain contractually agreed parameters. Purchases under the Netherlands contract will be carried out in accordance with the Company’s authority¹ to repurchase shares off-market pursuant to the off-market share buyback contract approved by its shareholders and the parameters set out therein.

The maximum number of ordinary shares which may be purchased or committed to be purchased by the Company under the programme (across both contracts) is 420,000,000, which is the maximum number remaining as of the date of this announcement pursuant to the relevant authorities granted by shareholders at the Company's 2024 Annual General Meeting¹.

The broker will make its trading decisions in relation to the Company's securities independently of the Company.

The programme will be conducted in accordance with Chapter 9 of the UK Listing Rules, Article 5 of the Market Abuse Regulation 596/2014/EU dealing with buy-back programmes (‘EU MAR’) and EU MAR as “onshored” into UK law from the end of the Brexit transition period (at 11:00 pm on 31 December 2020) through the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018 (as amended by the European Union (Withdrawal Agreement) Act 2020), and as amended, supplemented, restated, novated, substituted or replaced including by relevant statutory instruments (including, The Market Abuse (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations (SI 2019/310)), from time to time and the Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2016/1052 (the ‘EU MAR Delegated Regulation’) and the EU MAR Delegated Regulation as “onshored” into UK law from the end of the Brexit transition period (at 11:00 pm on 31 December 2020) through the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018 (as amended by the European Union (Withdrawal Agreement) Act 2020), and as amended, supplemented, restated, novated, substituted or replaced, including by relevant statutory instruments (including, The Market Abuse (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations (SI 2019/310)), from time to time.

¹ The existing shareholder authorities to buy back shares granted at the Company's 2024 Annual General Meeting will expire at the earlier of the close of business on August 20, 2025, and the end of the date of the Company's 2025 Annual General Meeting. The Company expects to seek renewal of shareholder authority to buy back shares at subsequent Annual General Meetings.

Enquiries

Media International: +44 (0) 207 934 5550

Media Americas: +1 832 337 4355

Cautionary Note

The companies in which Shell plc directly and indirectly owns investments are separate legal entities. In this announcement “Shell”, “Shell Group” and “Group” are sometimes used for convenience where references are made to Shell plc and its subsidiaries in general. Likewise, the words “we”, “us” and “our” are also used to refer to Shell plc and its subsidiaries in general or to those who work for them. These terms are also used where no useful purpose is served by identifying the particular entity or entities. ‘‘Subsidiaries’’, “Shell subsidiaries” and “Shell companies” as used in this announcement refer to entities over which Shell plc either directly or indirectly has control. The terms “joint venture”, “joint operations”, “joint arrangements”, and “associates” may also be used to refer to a commercial arrangement in which Shell has a direct or indirect ownership interest with one or more parties.  The term “Shell interest” is used for convenience to indicate the direct and/or indirect ownership interest held by Shell in an entity or unincorporated joint arrangement, after exclusion of all third-party interest.

Forward-Looking Statements

This announcement contains forward-looking statements (within the meaning of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995) concerning the financial condition, results of operations and businesses of Shell. All statements other than statements of historical fact are, or may be deemed to be, forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are statements of future expectations that are based on management’s current expectations and assumptions and involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results, performance or events to differ materially from those expressed or implied in these statements. Forward-looking statements include, among other things, statements concerning the potential exposure of Shell to market risks and statements expressing management’s expectations, beliefs, estimates, forecasts, projections and assumptions. These forward-looking statements are identified by their use of terms and phrases such as “aim”; “ambition”; ‘‘anticipate’’; ‘‘believe’’; “commit”; “commitment”; ‘‘could’’; ‘‘estimate’’; ‘‘expect’’; ‘‘goals’’; ‘‘intend’’; ‘‘may’’; “milestones”; ‘‘objectives’’; ‘‘outlook’’; ‘‘plan’’; ‘‘probably’’; ‘‘project’’; ‘‘risks’’; “schedule”; ‘‘seek’’; ‘‘should’’; ‘‘target’’; ‘‘will’’; “would” and similar terms and phrases. There are a number of factors that could affect the future operations of Shell and could cause those results to differ materially from those expressed in the forward-looking statements included in this announcement, including (without limitation): (a) price fluctuations in crude oil and natural gas; (b) changes in demand for Shell’s products; (c) currency fluctuations; (d) drilling and production results; (e) reserves estimates; (f) loss of market share and industry competition; (g) environmental and physical risks; (h) risks associated with the identification of suitable potential acquisition properties and targets, and successful negotiation and completion of such transactions; (i) the risk of doing business in developing countries and countries subject to international sanctions; (j) legislative, judicial, fiscal and regulatory developments including regulatory measures addressing climate change; (k) economic and financial market conditions in various countries and regions; (l) political risks, including the risks of expropriation and renegotiation of the terms of contracts with governmental entities, delays or advancements in the approval of projects and delays in the reimbursement for shared costs; (m) risks associated with the impact of pandemics, such as the COVID-19 (coronavirus) outbreak, regional conflicts, such as the Russia-Ukraine war, and a significant cyber security breach; and (n) changes in trading conditions. No assurance is provided that future dividend payments will match or exceed previous dividend payments. All forward-looking statements contained in this announcement are expressly qualified in their entirety by the cautionary statements contained or referred to in this section. Readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. Additional risk factors that may affect future results are contained in Shell plc’s Form 20-F for the year ended December 31, 2023 (available at www.shell.com/investors/news-and-filings/sec-filings.html and www.sec.gov). These risk factors also expressly qualify all forward-looking statements contained in this announcement and should be considered by the reader.  Each forward-looking statement speaks only as of the date of this announcement, January 30, 2025. Neither Shell plc nor any of its subsidiaries undertake any obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statement as a result of new information, future events or other information. In light of these risks, results could differ materially from those stated, implied or inferred from the forward-looking statements contained in this announcement.

Shell’s Net Carbon Intensity

Also, in this announcement we may refer to Shell’s “Net Carbon Intensity” (NCI), which includes Shell’s carbon emissions from the production of our energy products, our suppliers’ carbon emissions in supplying energy for that production and our customers’ carbon emissions associated with their use of the energy products we sell. Shell’s NCI also includes the emissions associated with the production and use of energy products produced by others which Shell purchases for resale. Shell only controls its own emissions. The use of the terms Shell’s “Net Carbon Intensity” or NCI is for convenience only and not intended to suggest these emissions are those of Shell plc or its subsidiaries.

Shell’s net-zero emissions target

Shell’s operating plan, outlook and budgets are forecasted for a ten-year period and are updated every year. They reflect the current economic environment and what we can reasonably expect to see over the next ten years. Accordingly, they reflect our Scope 1, Scope 2 and NCI targets over the next ten years. However, Shell’s operating plans cannot reflect our 2050 net-zero emissions target, as this target is currently outside our planning period. In the future, as society moves towards net-zero emissions, we expect Shell’s operating plans to reflect this movement. However, if society is not net zero in 2050, as of today, there would be significant risk that Shell may not meet this target.

Forward-Looking non-GAAP measures

This announcement may contain certain forward-looking non-GAAP measures such as cash capital expenditure and divestments. We are unable to provide a reconciliation of these forward-looking non-GAAP measures to the most comparable GAAP financial measures because certain information needed to reconcile those non-GAAP measures to the most comparable GAAP financial measures is dependent on future events some of which are outside the control of Shell, such as oil and gas prices, interest rates and exchange rates. Moreover, estimating such GAAP measures with the required precision necessary to provide a meaningful reconciliation is extremely difficult and could not be accomplished without unreasonable effort. Non-GAAP measures in respect of future periods which cannot be reconciled to the most comparable GAAP financial measure are calculated in a manner which is consistent with the accounting policies applied in Shell plc’s consolidated financial statements.

The contents of websites referred to in this announcement do not form part of this announcement.

We may have used certain terms, such as resources, in this announcement that the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) strictly prohibits us from including in our filings with the SEC.  Investors are urged to consider closely the disclosure in our Form 20-F, File No 1-32575, available on the SEC website www.sec.gov.

LEI number of Shell plc: 21380068P1DRHMJ8KU70

Classification: Acquisition or disposal of the issuer’s own shares.

FAQ

What is the size of Shell's (SHEL) new share buyback programme announced for 2025?

Shell (SHEL) announced a $3.5 billion share buyback programme, split between $2.1 billion for London exchanges and $1.4 billion for Netherlands exchanges.

When will Shell (SHEL) complete its $3.5 billion share buyback programme?

Shell plans to complete the buyback programme prior to its Q1 2025 results announcement, scheduled for May 2, 2025.

How many shares will Shell (SHEL) repurchase in its 2025 buyback programme?

Shell can purchase up to 420,000,000 ordinary shares under the programme, as authorized by shareholders at the 2024 Annual General Meeting.

What happens to Shell (SHEL) shares purchased in the buyback programme?

All shares repurchased as part of the programme will be cancelled, reducing Shell's issued share capital.

How is Shell's (SHEL) $3.5 billion buyback programme structured?

The programme is structured through two contracts with a single broker: a $2.1 billion London contract and a $1.4 billion Netherlands contract for respective market exchanges.