HOUSTON -- SLB (NYSE: SLB) announced results for the first-quarter 2025.

Adjusted EBITDA Margin Protected Despite Market Softness

“First-quarter adjusted EBITDA margin was slightly up year on year despite softer revenue as we continued to navigate the evolving market dynamics,” said SLB Chief Executive Officer, Olivier Le Peuch.

“It was a subdued start to the year as revenue declined 3% year on year. Higher activity in parts of the Middle East, North Africa, Argentina and offshore U.S., along with strong growth in our data center infrastructure solutions and digital businesses in North America, were more than offset by a sharper-than-expected slowdown in Mexico, a slow start to the year in Saudi Arabia and offshore Africa, and steep decline in Russia.

The expansion of our accretive margin digital business and the strength of our Production Systems division, combined with our cost reduction initiatives, have driven another consecutive quarter of year-on-year adjusted EBITDA margin growth.

These results demonstrate SLB's resilience in changing market conditions. We are continuously exercising cost discipline and aligning our resources with activity levels, leveraging our global reach and industry-leading innovation capabilities, expanding our differentiated digital offerings, and strategically diversifying the portfolio beyond oil and gas,” Le Peuch said.

Core Benefiting from Late-Cycle Customer Spend and Growth in International Unconventional Markets

“In the Core, we continue to see rising demand for production solutions as customers seek to offset declines and maintain or grow production from maturing assets. This is an area that will continue to present strong opportunities for SLB. As a result, Production Systems revenue grew 4% and expanded pretax operating margins by 197 bps year on year, with strong demand for surface production systems, completions, and artificial lift. In addition, Reservoir Performance was supported by strong international unconventional stimulation and intervention activity although it was offset by lower evaluation activity.

Overall, the combined revenue of the Core divisions was down 4% year on year, as growth in Production Systems was more than offset by declines in Reservoir Performance and Well Construction. Despite the year-on-year decline, our diversified portfolio and broad market position helped to offset lower rig activity,” Le Peuch said.

Digital and AI Growth Increasingly Decoupled from Upstream Cycle Dynamics

“The energy industry is focused on efficiency and performance, and our customers are recognizing the opportunity to unlock value from their data. As a result, operators are increasing their digital capabilities, strengthening partnerships with technology companies, and investing in digital and AI solutions.

This is translating into highly accretive revenue growth, and as a result, our quarterly digital revenue grew 17% year on year, contributing to a 6% increase in Digital & Integration revenue over that same period.

When we designed our strategy around three engines of growth, we envisioned digital leading the second phase of revenue expansion, complementing our leading offering in the Core. Today, that vision is materializing, and we will continue to enhance our leadership in AI, cloud computing and digital operations,” Le Peuch said.

Committing to Return a Minimum of $4 Billion to Shareholders in 2025

“SLB is committed to returning more than 50% of its free cash flow to our shareholders, and we will materially exceed this target in 2025. We continue to have confidence in our ability to generate strong cash flow in the current environment and will return a minimum of $4 billion to shareholders through dividends and share repurchases this year.

The industry may experience a potential shift of priorities driven by changes in the global economy, fluctuating commodity prices and evolving tariffs — all of which could impact upstream oil and gas investment and, in turn, affect demand for our products and services. In this uncertain environment, we remain committed to protecting our margins, generating strong cash flow and delivering consistent value to our customers and shareholders in 2025,” Le Peuch concluded.

Other Events

On February 2, 2025, SLB entered into an agreement to purchase the operations of Interactive Network Technologies, Inc. (INT), a global leader in energy data visualization. INT provides data visualization technology that empowers geoscientists, engineers and data scientists with the desktop and web-based domain data visualization required to make business and operational decisions. Incorporating this technology directly into the Delfi™ digital platform and Lumi™ data and AI platform will further enhance the ability of asset teams to accelerate data driven insights via a single, unified interface.

Under the previously announced accelerated share repurchase (ASR) transaction, SLB entered into agreements to repurchase $2.3 billion of its common stock commencing on January 13, 2025, and ending no later than May 31, 2025. The ASR was completed on April 7, 2025, and SLB received a total of 56.8 million shares of its common stock, of which 47.6 million were received in January and the remaining 9.2 million shares were received in April. These shares were repurchased by SLB at an average price of $40.51, representing the volume-weighted average price of SLB’s common stock during this period less a discount.

In April 2024, SLB and ChampionX announced that they entered into a definitive agreement for SLB to purchase ChampionX. The combined portfolios will drive customer value through deep industry expertise and digital integration, as well as enhanced equipment life and production optimization. On April 10, 2025, SLB announced that the United Kingdom Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has agreed to consider SLB’s proposed actions to address concerns around the ChampionX acquisition as part of the CMA’s Phase 1 review. SLB is pleased with this further progress and will continue its collaboration with the CMA and other regulators toward an anticipated closing in the second quarter or early third quarter of 2025.

On April 17, 2025, SLB’s Board of Directors approved a quarterly cash dividend of $0.285 per share of outstanding common stock, payable on July 10, 2025, to stockholders of record on June 4, 2025.