Inpex H1 profit falls 14.5%, unveils dividend hike, share buybacks
TOKYO, Aug 8 (Reuters) - Japan's biggest oil and gas explorer Inpex on Thursday reported a 14.5% drop in its first-half net profit, but raised its annual dividend forecast and unveiled an additional share buyback plan to improve shareholder returns.
For the full year, it stuck to its profit forecast of 360 billion yen ($2.5 billion) despite lower than expected output at its key Ichthys liquefied natural gas project in Australia.
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Net profit for the six months through June 30 fell to 212.6 billion yen from 248.5 billion a year earlier due to increased exploration expenses in Australia and higher tax payments.
Still, the company raised its annual dividend forecast to 86 yen per share from 76 yen and boosted its annual share buyback plan to 130 billion yen from 50 billion yen, resulting in a record total shareholder return of about 65%.
"Given our strong full-year earnings outlook, we decided to buy back additional shares and significantly increase the dividend," Daisuke Yamada, senior vice president, told a news conference.
Slower LNG output at Ichthys due to operational issues will reduce annual profit by 4 billion yen from the company's May estimate, but this will be offset by a positive impact from the yen's depreciation, among other factors, Yamada said.
Ichthys' Train 2 was shut down due to a gas leak on July 20, but came back online on July 28.
Overall LNG production at Ichthys has recovered to 85% of pre-issue levels and is expected to return to full capacity after fully resolving the problem during planned one-week maintenance in early October, Yamada said.
The slower production will reduce the number of cargoes to be shipped from Ichthys in 2024 by between one and five cargoes, according to a company spokesperson. The plant shipped 76 cargoes from January to July.
($1 = 146.1500 yen)
(Reporting by Yuka Obayashi; Editing by David Holmes)