(Reuters) -SLB buoyed its quarterly dividend and boosted share repurchases on Friday after the oilfield service provider posted better-than-expected fourth-quarter profit helped by higher demand for its drilling equipment and technology.
The firm raised its quarterly dividend by 3.6%, and said it has initiated an accelerated share repurchase to buy back $2.3 billion of the company’s stock.
“While upstream investment growth will remain subdued in the short term due to global oversupply, we anticipate the oil supply imbalance will gradually abate,” said SLB Chief Executive Officer Olivier Le Peuch, adding that the company believes its stock is undervalued relative to the strength of its business.
SLB’s shares rose 2.3% to $42 in premarket trading.
Revenue from its international segment, which accounts for about 80% of its total revenues, grew 3% in the quarter, helped by its business in the Middle East and Asia. North America revenue grew 7%.
Total revenue of $9.28 billion beat analysts estimates of $9.18 billion, according to data compiled by LSEG.
Excluding charges and credits, SLB posted a profit of 92 cents per share for the quarter, compared with the average analyst estimate of 90 cents.
The charges included a restructuring related charge of $223 million.
(Reporting by Arathy Somasekhar in Houston and Seher Dareen in Bengaluru; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta and Chizu Nomiyama)
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