Harbour Energy lifts shareholder returns as free cash flow increases
Harbour Energy PLC on Thursday declared a $100 million share buyback and raised its interim dividend, as it raised its guidance for oil production and free cash flow.
Shares were up 13% to 230.40 pence Thursday morning in London, the top FTSE 250 gainer. The company has a market capitalisation of £3.35 billion.
Harbour Energy is a North Sea-focused oil and gas producer formed from the 2021 merger of Premier Oil and Chrysaor Holdings. To this last year, it added a portfolio of assets in Norway, Germany, Denmark, Argentina, Mexico, Egypt, Libya and Algeria from Wintershall Dea.
Reflecting that acquisition, production in the first half of 2025 was 488,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day, up from 159,000 daily a year before. Harbour on Thursday narrowed upward its production guidance for the full year to 460,000 to 475,000 boepd from 455,000 to 475,000.
Pretax profit in the six months that ended June 30 was $1.64 billion, up from $392 million a year before, as revenue and other income multiplied to $5.27 billion from $1.92 billion.
Free cash flow was $1.36 billion in the half-year, up from just $380 million a year before, and Harbour raised its guidance for 2025 free cash flow to $1.0 billion from $900 million.
Harbour raised its interim dividend to 13.19 US cents per share from 13.00 cents a year before, saying this was in line with its plan for returning $455 million as a cash dividend in 2025.
The company also announced the start of a $100 million share buyback, running from Friday this week to the end of March next year.
‘Through the integration of the Wintershall Dea portfolio and in the midst of market volatility, we took decisive action to strengthen our margins, high-grade our capital programme and accelerate cost initiatives,’ said Chief Executive Officer Linda Cook. ‘These steps, along with the strong results from the first half, have enabled us to upgrade our free cash flow outlook for the year.’
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