BP Stock Climbs On Job Cut Plans To Rein In Costs, Retail Stays Bullish

Shares of BP rose 1% on Thursday after the energy firm said it would lay off around 4,700 employees in 2025 as it aims to cut costs.

In an email to Stocktwits, the company said it would also let go of 3,000 contractors. 

“We are strengthening our competitiveness and building in resilience as we lower our costs, drive performance improvement and play to our distinctive capabilities,” the company said.

According to its latest annual report, the London-listed firm had about 87,800 employees as of Dec. 31, 2023.

Last year, CEO Murray Auchincloss had pledged to cut the company’s costs by $2 billion by the end of 2026.

According to a Reuters report, the head of BP's technology division, Emeka Emembolu, told his team in a separate memo that he anticipated BP would cut around 1,100 roles through redundancies or by shifting work from the UK and the U.S. to Hungary, India, and Malaysia.

The latest announcement comes days after the company flagged lower fourth-quarter production and weaker earnings due to lower commodity prices.

The energy major had said weak margins would cut its refining earnings between $100 million and $300 million compared to the third quarter of 2024.

Retail sentiment on Stocktwits remained in the ‘bullish’ (64/100) territory, albeit slightly higher from a day ago, while retail chatter rose to ‘high.’

One user commented that slashing jobs was a good option for the company.

BP is scheduled to report its fourth-quarter earnings on Feb. 11 and hold its capital markets day on Feb. 26.

Over the past year, the stock is down 7.7%, while U.S. rivals Exxon Mobil (XOM) and Chevron (CVX) are up 14.2% and 11.1%, respectively. 
 

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