BP shares soar as City hails 'close to perfect' profits

BP DELIGHTED the City today with "close to perfect" profits and dividends on the back of high oil and gas prices that sent the energy giant's shares soaring.

- Jonathan Prynn

Second-quarter profits of $8.451 billion (£6.93 billion), up from $6.245 billion, were the second-highest in the oil major's history and were earned at the rate of around £900 per second.

BP also gave investors a 10% rise in the quarterly dividend to 6.006 cents and plans for a $3.5 billion share buyback.

Amid the rush of good news shareholders shrugged off concerns that the vast scale of the returns will ramp up public pressure on the Government to take further action against the sector beyond the existing windfall tax.

In early trading BP was the highest riser in the FTSE 100 with its shares up around 4%, adding more than £3 billion to the value of the business.