Shell Profit Beats Estimates in Wild Quarter for Oil Markets

Shell Plc reported second-quarter profit that dropped by 32% but beat analyst expectations, which had been lowered after a bearish trading update earlier this month.

Shell’s shares were up 2.7% in London on Thursday morning, after the company reported the earnings beat and maintained its pace of buying back $3.5 billion of shares in the quarter. Analysts noted that Shell’s cash flow from operations of $12.3 billion was well ahead of consensus expectations of $10.1 billion.