# SLB (SLB): Q3 profit excluding one-off charges up 16% on the quarter to $0.64 a share as sales reach $9.45bn

> SLB, the oilfield services company, reported third-quarter sales of $9.45bn, up 5% on the previous quarter and 6% on a year ago. Profit excluding…

- URL: https://centiview.com/post/slb-slb-q3-profit-excluding-one-off-charges-up-16-on-the-quarter-to-0-64-a-share-as-sales-reach-9-45bn
- Published: 2026-10-26T09:25:00.000Z
- Sectors: Energy & Commodities
- Region: US
- Ticker: SLB
- Sentiment (opinion, not a recommendation): neutral
- Publisher: Centiview (Persie Ltd, London)
- General information only, not financial advice

SLB, the oilfield services company, reported third-quarter sales of $9.45bn, up 5% on the previous quarter and 6% on a year ago. Profit excluding one-off charges rose to $0.64 a share, but the official (GAAP) figure fell to $0.49 because of a $187m pension charge.

## What happened

On 23 October 2026 SLB (formerly Schlumberger), which sells the equipment, chemicals, software and drilling services that oil and gas producers use, published its results for the three months to 30 September 2026 in a press release furnished to the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Form 8-K. Sales were $9,449m. Chief executive Olivier Le Peuch said every region grew compared with the previous quarter, led by a gradual recovery in the Middle East, where sales rose 13% despite what he called late-quarter disruptions, plus growth in North American shale activity and deepwater offshore work. The company also said it signed a deal on 31 August to buy Kelvion, a maker of cooling equipment, for about $3.4bn in cash plus about $0.7bn of assumed debt, and completed a software purchase from S&P Global Energy on 1 September.

## The numbers, explained

Our working on sales: $9,449m against $8,972m in the second quarter is a rise of $477m, or 5.3%, and against $8,928m a year ago a rise of $521m, or 5.8% (the company rounds to 6%). Part of that comes from ChampionX, a producer of oilfield chemicals SLB bought in July 2025: a year ago it counted for only two months. Take ChampionX out of both quarters ($956m now, $579m then) and sales were $8,493m against $8,349m, up 1.7%, which the company rounds to 2%. By region, North America sales rose 24% to $2,401m (13% without ChampionX), while Middle East and Asia sales were $2,807m, up 9% on the quarter (2,807 / 2,572) but down 6% on a year ago (2,807 / 3,000).

Profit needs more care. Net income attributable to SLB under GAAP, the standard US accounting rules, was $735m, or $0.49 a share, against $786m ($0.52) last quarter and $739m ($0.50) a year ago. The company also reports a figure that leaves out charges it treats as one-offs. Here those were a $187m non-cash pension settlement charge, which moved some retirement obligations off its books, and $55m of merger and integration costs. Adding back $187m and $40m after tax and outside shareholders gives $962m, or $0.64 a share: up 15.5% from $833m ($0.55) last quarter but down 6.3% from $1,027m ($0.69) a year ago. Pretax segment operating income, the profit of its divisions before corporate costs, interest and tax, was $1,576m, a margin of 16.7% (1,576 / 9,449) against 18.2% a year ago. This is a non-GAAP measure, one the company defines itself rather than under accounting rules.

## Why it matters

SLB makes money by selling services and equipment to oil and gas producers, so its results show how much those producers are spending. This quarter the faster-growing division was Production Systems (equipment and chemicals that help wells keep producing), with sales of $4,000m, up 15% on a year ago (4,000 / 3,474), while Well Construction (drilling) and Reservoir Performance (measuring and testing wells) were each down 3% on a year ago. The mix helps explain why divisional profit margins are lower than a year ago even as sales grow. SLB is also pushing into data centres, the buildings that hold computing equipment. It says that business grew 23% on the quarter, and the Kelvion deal adds heat-removal technology for them. The company expects that deal to close in the first half of 2027, subject to regulatory approvals.

Cash and shareholder returns give a second view. Cash from operations was $1,510m. After $485m of capital spending, $114m of investments in asset performance projects and $83m of capitalised exploration data, free cash flow, the cash left after running costs and investment, was $828m (1,510 - 485 - 114 - 83). SLB bought back $656m of its own shares and paid $439m in dividends, so $1,095m went to shareholders, more than the free cash flow. Net debt, borrowings minus cash, ended at $9,249m, up from $8,727m at the end of June. On the earnings call management gave its own forecast, not yet a fact, of fourth-quarter sales of about $10bn, up 5% to 7% on the third quarter; 5% and 7% of $9,449m is $9.92bn and $10.11bn.

## What to watch next

Dated and confirmed: SLB's board approved a quarterly dividend of $0.295 a share, payable on 7 January 2027 to holders on record at 2 December 2026. The company said on its call that its fourth-quarter forecast assumes Middle East sales stay flat at about $1.9bn, with uncertainty from regional tensions, and that it expects to complete the Kelvion purchase in the first half of 2027. SLB's fourth-quarter results date was not in the release, so we do not give one. We make no prediction about the results.

- GAAP: the standard US accounting rules, as opposed to adjusted figures a company defines itself
- Free cash flow: cash from operations minus spending on equipment, projects and data
- Pretax segment operating income: divisions' profit before corporate costs, interest and tax
- Net debt: borrowings minus cash

> **Why it matters** SLB's sales rose 5% to $9.45bn and profit excluding one-offs was $0.64 a share, but the official profit per share was $0.49 after a pension charge. Its spending on data-centre cooling shows where it is trying to grow.

> **What we verified** Sales $9,449m, GAAP net income $735m and EPS $0.49, EPS excluding charges $0.64, charges $187m and $55m, free cash flow $828m, net debt $9,249m, regional and division figures, dividend and Kelvion terms: SLB Form 8-K Exhibit 99 (SEC, primary). Sales, both EPS figures, free cash flow, net debt, buybacks, dividend and Kelvion close date also match Zacks via Yahoo Finance, and the pension charge, buyback, net debt and Kelvion timing match the MarketBeat call transcript. The fourth-quarter forecast comes from the call transcript only and is the company's own. Percentages, margins and adjusted sums are our own calculations.

### Sources
- [SLB Announces Third-Quarter 2026 Results, Form 8-K Exhibit 99 (SEC, primary)](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/0000087347/000119312526429435/d151271dex99.htm)
- [SLB Q3 Earnings & Revenues Beat Estimates on Production Systems Growth (Zacks via Yahoo Finance)](https://finance.yahoo.com/energy/articles/slb-q3-earnings-revenues-beat-134500707.html)
- [What SLB Said on Its Q3 Earnings Call (MarketBeat)](https://www.marketbeat.com/instant-alerts/transcript-what-slb-slb-said-on-its-q3-earnings-call-2026-10-23/)