For the fourth quarter of 2025, Shell plc recorded adjusted earnings of $3.26 billion, down 40% from the prior quarter’s $5.43 billion and the weakest result since Q1 2021. This figure also missed analyst consensus of $3.5 billion. On a year-on-year basis, quarterly profit declined from $3.66 billion in Q4 2024. Full-year 2025 adjusted earnings totaled $18.5 billion, compared with $23.72 billion a year earlier, reflecting a roughly 22% drop driven by a nearly 19% slide in Brent crude over the period.

Shell’s board approved a 4% increase in the interim dividend to $0.372 per ordinary share, payable March 30, 2026, with currency election options in US dollars, euros or pounds sterling. In parallel, the company announced a new $3.5 billion share buyback program, marking the 17th consecutive quarter of repurchases at or above the $3 billion level. Management reiterated its commitment to capital returns even as earnings pressures build.

Net debt rose to $45.7 billion at year-end, up from $41.2 billion at the end of Q3 2025, pushing gearing to 20.7% from 18.8%. The increase reflects both lower free cash flow in the quarter and continued capital investment. Shell has maintained cost reduction targets of $5–7 billion by end-2028 and capital expenditure guidance of $20–22 billion annually over the 2025–2028 period to support deleveraging.

In a portfolio reshaping initiative, Shell Brasil agreed to sell a 20% stake in the Orca deep-water project in Brazil’s Santos Basin to Kuwait Foreign Petroleum Exploration Company, reducing its working interest from 70% to 50% while retaining operatorship. The deal, expected to close by end-2026, follows recent final investment decisions of $5 billion for the Bonga North deepwater project and $2 billion for the HI gas development in Nigeria, underlining management’s focus on redeploying capital into higher-return assets.