Neptune Declares $800MM Dividend

Neptune Energy has announced that its board of directors has declared an $800 million dividend.

In a note posted on its website, the company outlined that it expects that the dividend will be paid to shareholders on December 15. Neptune said it continues to trade in line with guidance and noted that its operating cash flow is expected to exceed $2 billion for the full year. Leverage is expected to end the year around one times net debt to EBITDAX, inclusive of this dividend payment, the company highlighted, adding that this was “well below” the company’s target of less than 1.5 times.

No dividend was paid by Neptune in 2020 and a $200 million dividend was declared for the financial year ending December 31, 2019.

“Since Neptune’s inception, we have invested more than $6 billion in development, exploration and acquisitions to grow the business,” Sam Laidlaw, the executive chairman of Neptune, said in a company statement.

“As a result, we have built a diverse portfolio of high quality and long-life assets, with growth opportunities across the business that will support future cash flows. We have also continued to develop our new energy projects and expect to increase investment further in 2022,” he added in the statement.

“We remain on track to achieve significantly higher operating cash flow in 2021 as a result of higher commodity prices, robust production and good cost control. With three new projects now online, we expect production to increase in 2022, while we progress further developments in Norway and the UK,” Laidlaw went on to state.

In its latest results statement, Neptune reported underlying operating profit of $393.3 million in the third quarter of this year. This compared to an underlying operating profit of $15.7 million in the same period last year.

Set up in 2015 by Laidlaw, with private equity investors, Neptune has a diverse, gas-weighted portfolio and deep industry expertise offering strong opportunities for growth, both organically and via acquisition, according to its website.

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