PRESS RELEASE
BP posted a profit of 7.5 billion for 2025 (vs 8.9 billion for 2024), down 16%, despite continued growth in oil and gas demand. The weak results highlight the risks of BP’s focus on fossil fuels as International Energy Agency scenarios project declining demand after 2029.
Quarterly dividend of $0.0832 per share remains well below the pre-Covid level of $0.105.
“BP is in dire straits because the company has drifted without a consistent strategic direction,” says Mark van Baal, CEO of shareholder activist Follow This. “After a half-hearted energy transition, the company is now doubling down on fossil fuels in a market that will soon start to shrink.”
“If BP cannot grow profits and restore its dividend in a growing market, how will the company create shareholder value in a declining one?”
Shareholder value at risk
A group of institutional investors has joined Follow This in filing a shareholder resolution asking BP to explain how it plans to create shareholder value as oil and gas demand declines. At BP’s last AGM, 24% of shareholders voted against the chair following a campaign by Follow This.
“Every shareholder deserves to know how BP plans to create value in a structurally declining oil and gas market,” Van Baal says. “When demand fell temporarily during the Covid pandemic, BP halved its dividend. That experience alone should make this question unavoidable.”
Van Baal adds that even activist hedge fund Elliott, which has allegedly pushed BP to focus on fossil fuels, should want clarity on how such a strategy can deliver financially sustainable returns.
BP lacks a credible transition plan
“The energy system is changing, yet BP’s board still clings to a century-old business model built on hydrocarbons,” Van Baal adds.
“By ignoring the energy transition and continuing to invest in assets at risk of becoming stranded, the board is endangering BP’s future.”
“Even shareholders who don’t care about climate risk should be worried about BP’s disregard for market forces such as the exponential growth of renewables and electric vehicles.”
“BP risks a decline in share value when the market adjusts to the realities of disruptive innovation, asset retirement obligations, and climate-related liabilities.”
Growing investor pressure
In addition to the Follow This resolution, the Australasian Centre for Corporate Responsibility and other investors have filed a separate shareholder resolution asking BP to justify its upstream oil and gas spending.
Shareholder resolutions at BP and Shell
The resolutions are filed by Follow This and 23 investors with €1.5 trillion in assets. These investors include Achmea IM (the Netherlands), Edmond de Rothschild Asset Management, La Financière de l’Echiquier, Groupama AM, Ofi Invest AM, Ostrum AM (France), Falkirk Council Pension Fund, Lothian Pension Fund, West Yorkshire Pension Fund (United Kingdom), Bernische Pensionskasse, Ethos Foundation, Pensionskasse Stadt Zürich, Publica (Switzerland), Mercy IS, and Sierra Club Foundation (US).
