Ithaca Energy PLC on Thursday said outages at a number of fields hit production in the first half of 2024, a period which saw profit and sales fall.

In the six months to June 30, the London-based oil and gas company operating in the North Sea said pretax profit fell 24% to $189.4 million from from $248.7 million a year prior. Revenue fell 33% to $841.9 million from $1.25 billion.

First half production was 53,046 barrels oil equivalent per day, down from 75,755 a year ago. This reflected the shut-in of the Pierce field for a large part of the period, coupled with outages at the Erskine, Captain and Schiehallion fields.

Full-year guidance for 2024 combined group production was cut to 76,000 to 81,000 boed, down from previous guidance of 80,000 to 87,000 boed.

Ithaca guided 2024 standalone production to 54,000 to 57,000 boed, down from 56,000 to 61,000.

The firm declared a first interim dividend of 98.6 US cents per share, worth $100 million in total. Ithaca also reaffirmed a dividend commitment of 30% post-tax cash flow from operations, with an ambition for special dividends to increase total distributions to up to $500 million per annum.

In addition, Ithaca said it was targeting completion of Eni SpA’s UK upstream oil and gas assets early in the fourth quarter. The deal was announced in April.

Ithaca said the combination enhances the balance sheet and provides material firepower for growth and a potential pathway to investment grade credit rating.

Shares in Ithaca eased 2.1% to 128.31 pence in London on Thursday.

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