(BFM Stock Exchange) – Major Petroleum delivered a series of announcements this Wednesday, September 24, lowering the pace of its share buybacks to $ 1.5 billion in the fourth quarter, compared to 2 billion in previous quarters. Its board of directors has also approved the project to transform its ADR into ordinary actions in New York.

It was a penknown that had been anticipated by analysts. This Wednesday, September 24, the Totalnergies Major delivered several announcements upstream of its day dedicated to investors next Monday.

The most important and the most scrutinized by the market concerns the return to the shareholder, that is to say the dividends and acquisition of action.

For several years, the oil group has bought approximately $ 2 billion from its own quarters each quarter, an amount which therefore rises to $ 8 billion per year.

Recall that the return to the shareholder remains, among oil groups, a determining attractiveness factor with investors (banks are also in this case).

However, this Wednesday evening, the Defense group announced that it would raise its foot on the share buybacks, due to the drop in market prices for hydrocarbons and refinement and petrochemicals, as well as the unfavorable development of the dollar against the euro.

“Given the current environment, the board of directors decided that the level of share buybacks during the fourth quarter will be $ 1.5 billion for $ 7.5 billion in the year 2025,” said the company.

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Analysts had anticipated the announcement

For 2026, Totalenergies said that share buybacks would be between $ 750 million and $ 1.5 billion per quarter, for a Brent price between $ 60 and $ 70 a barrel and a exchange rate around 1.20 dollars for a euro.

Brent is currently evolving at around $ 69 a barrel, and its price has varied (roughly) between 58 and $ 79 since the start of the year. The euro is around 1.17 dollars.

The analysts had therefore seen this stroke of the plane on the acquisition of action. This is due to the group’s debt increase.

The totalness debt ratio, that is to say the net debt reported to the total liabilities of the company, went from 10.2% to the end of June 2024 to 14.3% at the end of March 2025 then 17.9% at the end of June.

Several analysts have explained that Totalenergies currently did not give off enough cash to finance without going into debt their investments, its dividend and its share buybacks.

This increase in the debt of Totalenergies had led these same analysts to rely on a lowering of share buybacks.

In a note published on Tuesday, UBS estimated that the oil group had to update its policy in the matter because “of the growing gap between the cash generation and the return to the shareholder”.

The Swiss bank thus expected Totalenergies to lower its share buybacks to $ 7.5 billion for 2025 (which will therefore be the case) and $ 6 billion in 2026.

HSBC, for its part, was tabling share buybacks of $ 6 billion a year for a Brent on Monday at 65 dollars per barrel.

Soon ordinary actions in New York

It remains to be seen how the scholarship will react Thursday to this announcement, which, in the opinion of analysts, had already been integrated by investors.

“We believe that the recent weakness of the title already reflects a potential reduction in action buybacks, and we plan that Totalenergies will pass at an annual acquisition of $ 4 billion in the fourth quarter,” wrote Royal Bank of Canada in a recent note.

“A drop in the return to the shareholder is generally not a favorable announcement (for action, editor’s note), but expectations have decreased and we think that a healthy readjustment of the return levels to the shareholder could ultimately reassure” the market, explained UBS on Tuesday. The Swiss Bank believed that a overlapping could ultimately give shareholders “comfort” in a context of low oil courses.

Another announcement: the Totalnergies Board of Directors approved on Wednesday evening the project to transform its ADR – deposit certificates which allow American investors to speculate on foreign groups – in ordinary shares.

“This operation will have no impact on the holders of ordinary action listed on Euronext Paris, which will remain the market to introduce total actions,” the group said in a press release.

The company has been working on this project since the spring of 2024. The CEO, Patrick Pouyanné, explained that he wanted to get closer to the group’s shareholder base since more than 50% of its capital is held by North American investors.

The announcement had caused sharp reactions, including in the political class. “I know that the subject created a certain emotion last year,” said Patrick Pouyanné, during the last general assembly of the company on May 23.

Ultimately, Totalenergies will therefore see its action be listed both in New York and Paris. However, the group ensures that it is not a double rating in the purely technical sense. This because the ADR transformation project into ordinary actions, technically, does not create two distinct classes of actions as is the case with a double rating, explains the company.

“There is no double rating project, Paris will remain the market for the introduction of Totalenergies and there is obviously no question of leaving France to which your company and I are particularly attached,” said Patrick Pouyanné in May.

“Concretely, it is simply a question of offering ordinary actions to American investors on the American market and not only deposits of deposits, the ADR. It is a technical question but likely to improve the liquidity of total action, in the interest of all shareholders,” said Patrick Pouyanné.