Royal Dutch Shell’s key earnings fall 44%

Royal Dutch Shell’s key earnings fall 44%:

"Royal Dutch Shell reported worse than expected fourth-quarter results after booking $500m of impairments but the Anglo-Dutch group said it was making progress towards recovery from a two-year downturn.

Earnings on a current cost of supply basis, the measure most closely watched by investors, fell 44 per cent to $1.03bn, from $1.84bn in the same period last year.

Excluding exceptional items, earnings were up 14 per cent at $1.8bn, from $1.6bn a year ago. However, this was well below analysts’ consensus forecast for $2.79bn. Shell said the $500m impairment mostly related to the impact of a weakening Australian dollar on a deferred tax position."



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