BP pledges duty to shareholders but no div guarantee

The statement, issued today, followed warnings that dividend payments could suffer as a result of spiralling costs following the Gulf of Mexico oil spill disaster (PP Online, June 2). The company says it will make an announcement on the issue in July. Hayward said: "We will meet our obligations to our employees, and to our other stakeholders, including hundreds of thousands of shareholders, and millions more savers in mutual and pension funds, who rely on their investment in BP as part of their financial security and in many cases their retirement income. "The financial consequence...