The boss of Shell has brushed off speculation he could launch a takeover bid for BP – saying he would rather buy his own company’s shares.
Shell has been tipped as a potential bidder for its rival after a slump in the latter’s share price.
‘We will always look at these things,’ said chief executive Wael Sawan, ‘[but] right now, buying back Shell [shares] for us continues to be absolutely the right alternative.’
Sawan’s comments, to the Financial Times, came as Shell announced plans to buy back another £2.6billion of its own shares over the next three months – the 14th consecutive quarter of hefty handouts.
Leading light: Shell has been tipped as a potential bidder for BP after a slump in its rival’s share price
Finance chief Sinead Gorman said its shares were ‘undervalued’ and therefore a good investment – even after a 28 per cent slump in first-quarter profits to £4.2billion despite the price of crude dropping from more than $80 a barrel in January to a four-year low of around $60 now. This was still ahead of analyst expectations.
And with the promise of more returns to investors, shares rose 2.1 per cent to 2487.5p but remain down more than 10 per cent since the start of April.
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