No recommendation
No news or research item is a personal recommendation to deal. Hargreaves Lansdown may not share ShareCast's (powered by Digital Look) views.
(Sharecast News) - Ithaca Energy lifted its 2026 dividend guidance on Wednesday as it hailed record second-quarter production and a "strong" first-half performance.
The company upped its dividend guidance to between $500m and $530m, from $470m to $520m. It said this reflects a strong financial performance, robust cash flow generation and confidence in the outlook for the remainder of the financial year. The North Sea oil and gas producer also declared a first interim dividend of $255m.
Ithaca reported record second-quarter production of 131,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day, which was 4% higher than Bloomberg consensus. This supported "robust" first-half average production of 128,000 boed, up from 124,000 in the same period a year earlier, it said, as it reaffirmed its full-year guidance of 120,000 -130,000 boed.
The company also cut its FY26 cost guidance range to between $800m and $840m, from $820m to $860m.
In the six months to the end of June, pre-tax profit dipped to $493.8m from $513.4m, while adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, amortisation and exploration costs was broadly stable at $1.1bn.
Executive chairman Yaniv Friedman said: "Ithaca Energy delivered another strong quarter and first half performance in 2026, demonstrating the strength of our business. Record quarterly production in Q2, continued safe and efficient operations, robust cash generation and disciplined capital allocation have enabled us to reaffirm full year production guidance, reduce operating cost guidance and increase our dividend outlook for the year.
"We have also continued to execute against our strategy, strengthening our balance sheet, extending our hedge position and advancing a material pipeline of organic growth opportunities across our portfolio.
"With Rosebank progressing towards first production, Cambo advancing through key development milestones and continued investment in high-return, short-cycle opportunities across our producing assets, we remain focused on maximising long-term value creation and delivering attractive, sustainable returns for our shareholders."
At 1018 BST, the shares were 5.9% higher at 266.40p.
See latest RNS on Investegate