Eni to pay special dividend, lift buyback after strong third-quarter results

By Francesca Landini

MILAN, Oct 23 (Reuters) - Italy's Eni will pay a €1.3 billion special dividend and slightly increase its share buyback programme after posting a third-quarter net profit that more than doubled from a year earlier, the energy group said on Friday.

The state-controlled company said its adjusted net profit in the July-September period was €2.8 billion, above a company-compiled analyst consensus of €2.48 billion and up from €1.25 billion a year earlier.

Eni also raised its guidance for underlying cash flow from operations (CFFO) to €16.5 billion from a previous €15 billion.

"We are further raising the distribution by an extraordinary dividend of €0.46 per share to be paid in the fourth-quarter and increasing again the buyback to €3.8 bln, underscoring our continued commitment to sharing upside with shareholders," CEO Claudio Descalzi said in a statement.

HIGHER PRODUCTION

The group benefited from a surge in oil and gas prices linked to turmoil in the Middle East, with a jump in refining margins across Europe also helping earnings.

The company continued to show higher-than-expected growth in production, and has discovered 1.23 billion barrels of new hydrocarbon resources so far this year, well above its target.

Underlying hydrocarbon production rose 7% year-on-year to 1.83 million barrel of oil equivalent per day (boe/d) in the third quarter.

This was driven by project ramp-ups in West-Africa, Mexico and Norway and a contribution from Searah, a joint venture launched with Malaysia's Petronas.

Eni now expects production to increase by between 6% and 7% this year as it advances with upstream projects in southeast Asia, Latin America and Africa, it said.

(Reporting by Francesca Landini, editing by Giulia Segreti and Gavin Jones)