Tim Hearn [Photo: at the podium at the company's annual shareholders meeting in Toronto] is Imperial Oil's CEO. His presentation:
“It was a record year on several fronts, including financial performance.”
The company posted earnings of $1.68-billion or $4.52 a share. (All prices CDN $) Return on average capital employed was 24 per cent.
Imperial is the only Canadian industrial corporation with a Triple-A rating from credit-rating agency Standard and Poors.
Hearn says that if you had invested $100 in Imperial in 1993, it would be worth $550 by the end of 2003, an increase of 450 per cent. Imperial says that's bettter than either the energy index or the composite index on the Toronto Stock Exchange.
Hearn also spoke about an issue bedevilling Shell right now and some other major oil and gas producers — how to account for, report, and value reserves.
Hearn says the company has not had to change the way it accounts for reserves to bring the company in line with new regulations about reporting reserves.
“We have always taken a conservative approach to booking and reporting reserves.”
For its first quarter, Imperial Oil reported a profit of $509-million or $1.40 a share. Profit would have been greater but for the rising Canadian dollar, Hearn said. In the same quarter last year, the company posted a porift of $538-million or $1.42 a share — a company record.
Total revenues for the quarter were $5.07-billion compared to $5.48-billion in the same quarter last year.
Hearn also spoke about long-term prospects for the oil and gas industry globally. He says Canada and Canadian companies are uniquely positioned to supply growing world energy demands for the next 20 or 30 years.
“The oil sands of western Canada contain more oil-in-place than the world's largest oil-producing country — Saudi Arabia,” he said.
Imperial Oil Ltd. of Toronto is one of the largest producers of crude oil and natural gas liquids in Canada, a major producer of natural gas, the largest refiner and marketer of petroleum products — sold primarily under the Esso brand name — and a major producer of petrochemicals.