Latest news with #VitolGroup
Bloomberg
a day ago
- Business
- Bloomberg
Vitol Partners Get Record $10.6 Billion Payout
Vitol Group, the world's largest commodity trading house, handed a record $10.6 billion to its executives and senior staff through share buybacks last year. Julian Lee reports on Bloomberg Television. (Source: Bloomberg)
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Business Standard
2 days ago
- Business
- Business Standard
Vitol hands record $10.6 bn payout to its traders in energy boom year
By Jack Farchy and Archie Hunter Vitol Group handed a record $10.6 billion to its executives and senior staff through share buybacks last year, as the fallout of the energy crisis continued to deliver extraordinary riches to the world's commodity traders. The share repurchase — almost certainly the highest such payout in the industry's history — means privately held Vitol has distributed over $31 billion to its partners in the past decade, according to the company's audited annual accounts seen by Bloomberg News. The numbers show how the disruptions that followed Russia's invasion of Ukraine have handed a spectacular bonanza to a small group of commodity traders that their predecessors could only have dreamed of. Vitol has paid out more through buybacks in the past three years than in the previous 17 years combined. Still, the huge payout comes as earnings are moderating across the industry. Vitol's buyback in 2024 outstripped its profit for the year, meaning that the group's equity dropped from $32.5 billion at the end of 2023 to $30.7 billion at the end of 2024. There's a similar trend taking place across the largest commodity trading companies, many of which operate as employee-owned partnerships, particularly as senior executives who have accumulated valuable shareholdings retire. At Vitol, executive board members including Chris Bake, the company's longtime head of origination, Mike Muller, head of Asia, and Gerard Delsad, head of the Geneva office, have all recently announced their retirement. In a management report, Vitol said that it had spent a further $1.7 billion on buybacks so far in 2025, as of June. A Vitol spokesperson didn't immediately respond to requests for comment. The share buybacks are paid on top of salaries and bonuses. Vitol's personnel expense amounted to $2.1 billion in 2024, down 10% from the previous year, according to the accounts. The company says on its website it has over 1,800 employees. As well as the bumper payouts, commodity trading houses are also re-investing a portion of their mega profits into assets, from oil wells and refineries to renewables. In 2024, Vitol bought Italian refiner Saras SpA as well as coal trader Noble Resources Trading Ltd. In 2025, it has announced a $1.65 billion deal to buy oil and liquefied natural gas projects from Eni SpA in Ivory Coast and the Republic of Congo. Vitol and several of its energy trading rivals have also embarked on an aggressive expansion into metals over the past year. Also in 2024, according to the accounts, Vitol reduced its shareholding in Vitol Bahrain, which has long been a key entity for its deals in the Middle East, from 100% to 11%. It also reorganized its shareholding in VPI, the UK power generation unit whose activities have drawn scrutiny as prices soared, maintaining a 25% stake through a Jersey holding company.
Reuters
2 days ago
- Business
- Reuters
Vitol paid out $10.6 billion to shareholders in buybacks in 2024
LONDON, July 28 (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.
Bloomberg
2 days ago
- Business
- Bloomberg
Oil Giant Vitol Hands Record $10.6 Billion Payout to Its Traders
Vitol Group handed a record $10.6 billion to its executives and senior staff through share buybacks last year, as the fallout of the energy crisis continued to deliver extraordinary riches to the world's commodity traders. The share repurchase — almost certainly the highest such payout in the industry's history — means privately held Vitol has distributed over $31 billion to its partners in the past decade, according to the company's audited annual accounts seen by Bloomberg News.
Bloomberg
14-07-2025
- Business
- Bloomberg
Vitol Bolsters Metals Expansion With $240 Million Iron Ore Deal
Vitol Group signed its first multi-year financing deal for metals, as the energy trading giant ramps up its presence in the sector following a long stint out of the market. The trading house entered a $240 million prepayment facility with a subsidiary of CIA Siderúrgica Nacional SA for the delivery of 6 million tons of iron ore over four years, Vitol said Monday in a statement.
