SHELL provided a glimmer of light in an otherwise dark month by reporting a nine per cent rise in profits.
The oil group surprised City analysts with some positive news after seeing its reputation tarnished by a series of blunders over reserves.
Underlying profits for the first three months of the year rose ahead of City expectations to £2.4bn, despite the company seeing a fall in oil output.
Investors were also boosted by news that Shell will restart its share buyback programme, with about £1.13bn to be spent on buying its own stock this year.
Jeroen van der Veer, Shell chairman, said the performance had been delivered against the extraordinary challenges posed by the shock downgrades of its reserves.
The group is being investigated by regulators on both sides of the Atlantic after announcing in January that its oil and gas stocks were 20 per cent lower than previously thought. It has since issued another two restatements of its reserves.
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