5 August 2025
If you are covering BP’s latest financial results, please find below a comment from Maurizio Carulli, global energy analyst at Quilter Cheviot:
“BP delivered its first positive quarter in a very long time, producing a strong set of second quarter results. What is perhaps most encouraging is that this is despite the average Brent oil price in the quarter being at $68 per barrel, well below the average of $76 per barrel seen in the first quarter of the year.
“Underlying profit before interest and tax was $5.25bn, down 46% year on year as a result of the lower oil price, but crucially up 18% on the previous three months, and comfortably ahead of expectations from the market. In further signs of good news, the strong performance was seen across all divisions: gas and low carbon energy, oil production, customer and products.
“Underlying net profit was $2.35bn, up more than 70% on the quarter, while equally importantly, operating cash flow was robust at $6.27bn, up an impressive 121% on the previous quarter. Another small positive has been the decrease of net debt from $26.97bn to $26.04bn, down 3.4%. Whilst small, it is definitely a step in the right direction for a company that has a higher gearing than its peers.
“After the “strategy reset” announced in February, BP has started to address, step by step, a number of its strategic issues. These results appear to see BP pointing in the right direction once again. It has replaced its chairman with the appointment of Albert Manifold, it has introduced very strong energy expertise on its Board, with the appointment of Simon Henry, former CFO at Shell, and David Hager, former CEO of US E&P company Devon Energy.
“The management team has clearly started delivering on the strategy reset announced a few months ago. There has been huge speculation of late on the fate of BP and whether or not a rival will look to take them out with a merger. If positive results like this continue to be delivered, that speculation may just end up being a blip in BP’s long and storied history.”
