[LONDON] Royal Dutch Shell reported a 36 per cent rise in 2018 profits on Thursday to US$21.4 billion, the highest since 2014, beating forecasts as cost savings kicked in.

For the fourth quarter of 2018, the Anglo-Dutch company's net income attributable to shareholders, based on a current cost of supplies (CCS) and excluding identified items, rose 32 per cent on the year to US$5.688 billion as deep cost cuts introduced after the 2014 market downturn filtered through.

That compared with a company-provided forecast of US$5.28 billion for the quarter and US$20.98 billion for the full year.

REUTERS