The oil giant’s results beat expectations despite profit falling to $3.2bn, and by late morning its shares were up 17p to 2064p.
The fall in profit was expected in light of the low oil price, which explains why the market did not react more adversely. Revenues dropped 40% to $65.7bn.
The top ten shareholders in Shell include BlackRock with 4.36%, Legal & General Investment management with 3.11%, State Street Global Advisors holding 2.92% and Invesco which has 1.26%.
Shell is in the midst of carrying out a proposed takeover of fellow FTSE 100 heavyweight BG Group for around £47bn.
“Royal Dutch Shell’s first quarter results reported this morning beat market expectations, but clearly demonstrated the impact of lower oil and gas prices,” said Ian Forrest, investment research analyst at The Share Centre.
“Investors should acknowledge that the downstream refining business improved its margins and lowered cost levels, while the upstream business saw production down 2% to 3.17m barrels of oil a day.”
“The company also said it expects production in the second quarter will fall by 400,000 barrels compared to the same period last year,” Forrest added. “We believe that this suggests the £47bn merger with BG, announced earlier in April, has come at just the right time. Royal Dutch Shell remains our favourite oil and gas major.”
