There are always plenty of numbers to evaluate when weighing up whether to buy a particular share.
Today I’m going to quickly review three figures for anyone thinking about investing in BP (LSE: BP) (NYSE: BP.US).
1. 12.5%
This is what BP announced its dividend was going to increase by within its third-quarter results of 2012. This advance was deemed a reward to “very patient” shareholders who had seen the company get hit by rising costs attributed to the Deepwater Horizon disaster.
The last set of results, released in July, stated that the current dividend (paid quarterly) stands at 9 US cents per share.
2. $42.4bn
That’s the estimated total cost BP will have to pay as a result of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill.
Perhaps more worryingly, the company revealed that it had just over $300m left of the funds it had set aside to pay the compensation.
BP is currently locked in a legal battle to reign in the total payments, as it alleges that the administrator overseeing the compensation awards is “misinterpreting the settlement“.
3. £5,500,000
This is how much the chief executive of Rosneft spent on shares in the company.
Why does this affect BP? Well, BP owns nearly 20% of the Russian state-owned firm, so it’s a shred of light for shareholders amid the gloom of seemingly never-ending legal wrangling with the US.
Igor Sechin, chief executive of Rosneft, is considered by some Kremlin-watchers as the “second most powerful man” in Russia, as a result of his links with President Putin.
As BP have two seats on the board of Rosneft, the FTSE 100 member finds itself in a very good position for anything related to Russia’s oil.
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> Chris does not own any share mentioned in this article.
