Like Shell (LON:RDSa) earlier this week, BP (LON:BP) hasn't issued ideal cash flow numbers. But both companies have nevertheless turned on the spending taps, paying for either buybacks, dividends or acquisitions. That's offering insight into just how confident Big Oil must be on the industry's outlook.
At $39.3bn, BP's debt pile is still pretty cumbersome and investors are rightly cautious about pushing its shares back to pre-Deepwater Horizon levels.
BP is of course a much leaner operation now, thanks to its reaction to the oil price collapse in 2014. It can now turn a profit with oil below $50 a barrel, giving its balance sheet more headroom to weather another price downturn, and offering a modicum of reassurance that it's not being too loose with its spending.
The weather is set to impact NWF sales
NWF's heating oil business was a big beneficiary of the frigid British winter as it delivered energy to farmers in need off the grid.
But even the company admits the same benefit isn't expected to materialise this year, and lots of work needs to be done getting the foods division back on track after the loss of a major contract.
It will be interesting to see how much the extremely hot summer impacts milk prices and farmer demand for feed. NWF claims to feed one in six cows in Britain and the sweltering condition could disrupt production.
All in all, though, NWF has a good track record of paying a reliable dividend and any fall in the shares today could provide a good entry point for yield-hungry investors.
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