Imperial Oil Slips To Loss In Q1, Revenues Decline - Quick Facts

(RTTNews) - Imperial Oil Ltd. (IMO, IMO.TO) on Friday reported a net loss for the first quarter on lower revenues, noting that its results were impacted by COVID-19 and depressed March crude prices. The loss per share for the quarter was wider than analysts' estimates and revenues too missed their expectations.

The company's net loss for the first quarter was C$188 million or C$0.25 per share, compared to net income of C$293 million or C$0.38 per share in the year-ago period.

The net loss for the quarter includes non-cash charges of C$301 million, driven by low quarter-end prices.

Total revenues and other income for the quarter declined to C$6.69 billion from C$7.98 billion in the year-ago period.

On average, analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected the company to report loss of C$0.07 per share for the quarter on revenues of C$7.04 billion. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.

First-quarter production averaged 419,000 gross oil-equivalent barrels per day, up from 388,000 barrels per day in the same period of 2019.

As the impact of the pandemic and lower commodity prices manifested themselves later in the quarter, Imperial Oil took steps to reduce its 2020 spending levels with capital spending reductions of C$500 million versus prior guidance and expense reductions of C$500 million compared to 2019 levels.

Imperial Oil now expects capital and exploration expenditures for 2020 to be C$1.1 billion to C$1.2 billion, down from the previously announced C$1.6 billion to C$1.7 billion.

Imperial Oil also said it has declared a second-quarter dividend of 22 cents per share, payable on July 1, 2020, to shareholders of record at the close of business on June 4, 2020. The dividend is the same as last year.