By Pietro Lombardi
MADRID (Reuters) -Spain’s Repsol confirmed its shareholder payout target on Thursday after second-quarter adjusted profit fell less than expected, despite a 175 million euro ($206 million) hit from a massive blackout in April and other smaller power-supply issues.
The April 28 blackout that caused traffic chaos in cities, and left thousands stranded on trains and in elevators across the Iberian Peninsula, also cut power supplies to Repsol’s five refineries and three chemical plants in the region.
Some of its facilities also suffered from external power supply issues on April 22 and June 16.
Since it can take one or two weeks for such plants to be fully operational after these events, their utilisation ratios fell significantly in the quarter.
“All businesses, both quarterly and half-yearly, have improved their results, except for Industrial, which was impacted by the general blackout on April 28 in Spain,” Chief Executive Josu Jon Imaz said in a statement.
The company said it was already considering potential legal action once responsibilities related to the outage are officially determined.
Spain’s antitrust and energy watchdog is carrying out a probe into the blackout but hasn’t said when it will release its findings.
The company also said it had launched another 350 million euro share buyback, taking the overall amount for this year to 700 million euros, as it had previously pledged.
Including dividends, shareholders will this year receive between 30% and 35% of the cashflow the company generates from operations, which is in the upper end of its target.
Repsol booked a quarterly adjusted profit of 702 million euros, compared with 859 million euros a year earlier and a company-provided average forecast of 500 million.
Net profit fell to 237 million euros from 657 million.
The Spanish group also said it is selling its 40% stake in U.S. renewables developer Hecate.
($1 = 0.8494 euros)
(Reporting by Pietro Lombardi, editing by Inti Landauro and David Latona)
