Shell first quarter earnings rise, Evraz steel output falls

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The FTSE 100 is expected to open 10 points higher on Thursday, having closed up 0.27% at 6,963.67 on Wednesday.

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Oil and gas giant Shell reported higher first quarter earnings and lifted its dividend on the back of higher commodity prices and refining margins. The company on Thursday said adjusted earnings rose to $3.2bn from $393m in the fourth quarter of 2020 and $2.8bn a year earlier. On a current cost of supply basis, used as a gauge of net earnings, Shell swung to a profit of $4.3bn from a $4.4bn loss compared with the fourth quarter. The dividend was lifted 4% to 0.1735 cents a share.

Evraz reported a 1.7% fall in consolidated crude steel output quarter-on-quarter on Thursday, to 3.41 million tonnes, which it put down to unscheduled downtime of the sintering machine at ZSMK. The FTSE 100 miner and steelmaker said total sales of steel products dropped by 9.9% in the first quarter. Total raw coking coal production climbed 7.8%, meanwhile, with most of the growth coming from the Novokuznetsk site, while coking coal concentrate production grew 3.6% to 4.24 million tonnes, mainly due to increased coal mining volumes.

NatWest's first-quarter operating pretax profit rose to £946m from £519m a year earlier as the bank released money set aside for bad debts early in the pandemic. Revenue dropped to £2.66bn in the three months to the end of March from £3.16bn and the bank wrote back £102m of impairment charges.

Newspaper round-up

Surging iPhone sales have given Apple its best-ever start to the year as the technology group continued to ride the latest wave in demand for its devices. Total revenues rose by 53 per cent, beating forecasts on Wall Street to hit $89.6 billion - a record for its second quarter - amid unexpectedly strong smartphone and computer sales. - The Times

The failure of Greensill Capital will cost UK taxpayers up to £5bn, a parliamentary inquiry has heard, as one expert said the lender’s business model was “as close to fraud as you could imagine”. The former City minister Paul Myners said the government could end up footing the bill of unpaid state-backed loans and social support for thousands of steelworkers whose jobs are currently at risk at one of Greensill’s largest borrowers, Liberty Steel, owned by metals magnate Sanjeev Gupta. - Guardian

BT is in talks with Amazon, Disney and others to offload a stake in its television arm, the Telegraph reported, as the pandemic casts doubt over the future of sport. The telecoms operator has appointed the investment bank Lazard to explore a partial sale of BT Sport as it focuses on upgrading Britain’s broadband network. - Telegraph

A sharp rise in digital advertising enabled Facebook to comfortably beat Wall Street expectations as its profits almost doubled. Shares in the world’s largest social media company are set to open at an all-time high today after it posted a 48 per cent jump in total revenue, to $26.17 billion. - The Times

Nestlé is planning to cut almost 600 jobs in the UK, close a factory and switch production of some products to Europe. The Swiss-owned confectioner said it was considering closing its site in Fawdon, Newcastle upon Tyne, in late 2023, with the loss of about 475 jobs, with a further 98 to go in York. - Guardian

US close

Wall Street stocks finished in negative territory on Wednesday, as the Fed announced the continuation of its current easy policy, even while acknowledging that the US economy was accelerating.

At the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.48% at 33,820.38, as the S&P 500 lost 0.09% to 4,183.18, and the Nasdaq Composite was off 0.28% at 14,051.03.

The Dow closed 164.55 points lower on Wednesday, reversing modest gains recorded in the previous session.

Market participants had their expectations met by the Federal Reserve late in the session, as the central bank kept its short-term interest rate targets near zero, and confirmed it would continue to buy at least $120bn per month of bonds.

That standstill on policy came even as the Fed acknowledged the strength shown by the US economy in the early months of 2021, and offered no signals that its policy would change in the foreseeable future.