Santos shares slide on profit miss
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More news: Santos shares fell 4.67% to $7.45 by 1:13pm AEST, following the company's weaker profit announcement at market open.
What they said: The company's earnings (EBITDA) and net profit were 4% and 6% lower than RBC Capital Markets' consensus estimates, its analysts wrote in a note. Operating cash flow was 13% lower than estimates.
RBC also noted that some of Santos' key projects risked running slightly behind schedule, such as the Narrabri Hunter Gas Pipeline which lost a Federal Court appeal by traditional owners who were concerned about the project's impact on climate change.
The analysts said that Santos' Dorado LNG exploration project risked missing stated milestones if there were any delays to the completion of a front end engineering design (FEED) study.
Santos half-year profit hit by lower LNG prices, volumes
The news: Santos posted a 19% slide in net profit for the first half of its 2024 financial year, which the company said was due to lower LNG production, sales volumes and pricing.
The numbers: A higher cost of gas production combined with lower sales volumes and realised pricing at the company's Cooper Basin project, dragged EBITDA down 15% to $200 million.
While production rose at the Gladstone LNG project in Queensland, the softer pricing environment meant sales volumes were slightly lower.
Production at the PNG LNG project was roughly flat compared to the first half of last year, but project earnings were slightly lower.
The context: The company maintained its production guidance for the full 2024 year at 87 million to 93 million barrels of oil equivalent (mmboe) and its production guidance at 84 mmboe to 90 mmboe for the same period.
Santos declared a 13 cents per share interim dividend for the period.
The source: ASX announcement
