Shell beats third-quarter expectations with 50 percent rise in profit

LONDON (Reuters) - Royal Dutch Shell beat analysts' expectations for third-quarter earnings on Thursday, reporting a roughly 50 percent rise in underlying net profit.

Net income attributable to shareholders, based on a current cost of supplies (CCS) and excluding exceptional items, came to $4.1 billion, compared with a company-provided analysts' consensus of $3.62 billion.

That was up from net income of $2.72 billion a year earlier.

(Reporting by Karolin Schaps and Ron Bousso; editing by Jason Neely)