Repsol cuts profits by 45% but increases shareholder remuneration

MadridRepsol made a profit of 1,756 million euros in 2024, 45% less than the previous year, as reported this Thursday to the National Securities Market Commission (CNMV). The company attributed the reduction in profits to a "complex" geopolitical context, in which the uncertainty about the economic recovery in China stands out; the fall in the prices of crude oil, gas and electricity, and moderate margins in refining and low in the chemical industry.

The group's adjusted net result, which measures the performance of the business, reached 3,327 million euros throughout 2024, 34% less than in 2023. As for debt, the oil company reduced it by 524 million euros in the last quarter of 8,000. However, the energy company expects net investments of between 3.5 and 4 billion euros in 2025.

Although this is the worst result since the year of the pandemic, when it posted clean losses, the oil company chaired by Antoni Brufau is healthy: at 10:50 a.m. on Thursday, Repsol shares were up 5.5%, to 12.84 euros. Repsol will improve remuneration by 30% compared to 2023, to 0.90 euros per share, and will reduce share capital through a amortization of 60 million of its own shares. This means distributing some 1,928 million euros among shareholders.

The announcement of the profits comes after a year-end 2024 marked by pressure from the company to derail the Spanish government's extraordinary tax on the sector, which the Congress of Deputies ended up overturning. In the 2024 accounts, Repsol includes what it paid last year for the 2023 financial year: 450 million euros (335 million for the extraordinary tax and 115 million in provisions, the company specifies). This 2025, and therefore on the 2024 results, it will not have to settle anything. Repsol even threatened to withdraw some key investments, including those of Camp de Tarragona, and parties such as Junts and the PNV took up the flag and managed to get PSOE and Sumar to withdraw the tax.

"Last year we made firm progress on the strategic lines defined for the period 2024-2027, driven by the solid performance of our businesses, which has allowed us to increase dividends and investments. In 2025 we will continue on this same path, once again fulfilling our commitments by growing profitably," said Repsol CEO Josu Jon Imaz in a press release.

Imaz received 4.06 million and Brufau 1.6 million

As CEO of the company, Josu Jon Imaz received a remuneration of 4.069 billion euros in 2024, 3.54% more than the previous year, as published by the company in the CNMV. While the president Antoni Brufau received 1.6 million, 23% less.