Harbour Energy hikes FY dividend, 'on track' to complete Wintershall acquisition in Q4

Oil and gas business Harbour Energy hiked its full-year dividend on Thursday as its transformational takeover of German rival Wintershall was "on track" to complete in Q4.

Harbour will pay a final dividend of $0.13 per share for 2023 on 22 May, in line with its previously stated plan to payout $200.0m, and maintained guidance for spending, with Q1 capital expenditure of $250.0m and FY spend seen at $1.2bn. Net debt was also halved to $100.0m at the end of March.

The FTSE 250-listed group also said it had produced 172,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day in Q1, with operating costs averaging $18.00 per barrel, and estimated revenues of $900.0m for the quarter, after hedging for UK prices of $83.00 per barrel of oil and 49.0p per therm for gas.

As far as its Wintershall takeover was concerned, Harbour said it had made significant progress on the various workstreams and approvals required to complete the $11.2bn deal, which will create "one of the world's largest and most geographically diverse" independent oil and gas companies.

Chief executive Linda Cook said: "During the first quarter, we continued to deliver safe and responsible operations, maximise the value of our UK production base and advance our organic growth projects.

"At the same time, we made significant progress towards completion of the Wintershall Dea acquisition which will transform our portfolio and capital structure and support enhanced and sustainable shareholder returns."

As of 0945 BST, Harbour Energy shares were up 4.47% at 292.10p.

Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com