Business View Magazine - August 2023

51 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE VOLUME 10, ISSUE 8 ENERPLUS we could still return some of those profits in the form of dividends to our shareholders.” Fast-forward to over the last two to three years, and much of the industry has shifted to that model where companies are now being rewarded for not spending all the profits back into the business, as Hutchings noted. “In fact,” he said, “the reinvestment rate that we are seeing in the industry has even gotten to 50 percent or lower over the last few years. The rest of those profits are essentially being returned to shareholders. Those take the form of dividends––regular dividends.” “Some companies have paid special dividends or variable dividends. We have chosen to also look at the value of our equity, and when it doesn’t fully reflect the intrinsic value of the company, we’ve been taking some of our profits and buying back shares and returning value to our shareholders in that fashion. In fact, over the last two years, we have bought back 10% of our shares outstanding each year. That kind of capital discipline is now what’s being rewarded all across our industry for companies to become more prudent and try to return value today to shareholders.” Staying focused Enerplus remains focused on its core business of profitably finding, producing and selling oil, natural gas and natural- gas liquids, as Hutchings noted. “The entire energy industry is in a very dynamic transition at the moment,” he said. “What we see is a continued growing need for energy all around the world. We would broadly say we are supportive of all forms of energy–– renewable energy, traditional oil and gas, etc. We see a future that still requires lots of oil and lots of natural gas, as well as all forms of energy. For us, the longer-term demand for our product we still think remains quite strong.” Ramotowski spoke of the importance of Enerplus’s