LONDON (Reuters) -Global commodity trading house Vitol Group paid $10.6 billion to employees who own shares in the company, through its annual share buyback scheme in 2024, company filings seen by Reuters showed.
Vitol’s $10.6 billion in buyback payments were up from the $6.4 billion it paid in 2023 – extending its highest ever.
Buybacks rose in 2024 as a continuation of record earnings even though profits started to drop from all-time highs.
Vitol made around $8-8.5 billion in net profit last year, down from $13 billion in 2023 and $15 billion in 2022.
Vitol and rival global commodity traders such as Trafigura and Gunvor made lower net profit in their 2024 financial year, as markets stabilised after a period of turmoil in 2022-2023 as trading houses made record earnings during Europe’s energy crisis and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
As well as funding its share buybacks, Vitol has been putting its bumper earnings towards investments in upstream and downstream assets across the globe. In 2024 Vitol acquired Italian refining company Saras.
It has also diversified from its traditionally oil-heavy portfolio, increasing its activities in the natural gas trading business, as well as coal and metals.
The total equity attributable to company owners for the 2024 financial year was $30.6 billion, down from $32.4 billion in 2023 according to the earnings document.
(Reporting by Robert Harvey; Editing by David Gregorio)
