Q: what was your take on their earnins call and their plan of distributing the free cash flow between share buy backs dividends paying down debt?
5i Research Answer:
BTE mentioned that it allocate 50% of free cash flow to its balance sheet and the other 50% to allocating capital to shareholders through buybacks and dividends. Net debt reduced 5% in the quarter but remained high at $2.28B. Earnings were solid as production and net income were up for the quarter. The current capital allocation strategy is quite shareholder friendly but we would like to see debt come down more in the future. The call seemed generally positive.