LONDON -- Royal Dutch Shell increased its dividend payout to shareholders following a better-than-expected third quarter, months after cutting it for the first time since World War II.
The oil giant, which is trying to transform itself into a carbon-neutral energy company, said Thursday that it was planning to increase its dividend by 4% to 16.65 cents per share for the third quarter.
"The strength of our performance gives us the confidence to lay out our strategic direction, resume dividend growth and to provide clarity on the cash allocation framework, with clear parameters to increase shareholder distributions," Chief Executive Officer Ben van Beurden said.
The dividend increase came as the company reported earnings on a current cost-of-supply basis -- the industry standard -- of $177 million in the July-September period.
Though down 97% compared with last year because of the sharp slide in oil prices, the company's earnings still beat the consensus in financial markets of $146 million.
It's a sharp improvement on the performance in the second quarter, when the company reported a loss of $18.4 billion after it was forced to reassess how much the oil it had in untapped reserves would sell for.