MOL Q1 earnings jump on base effect
Hungarian oil and gas company MOLʼs consolidated first-quarter net income jumped 165% year-on-year to HUF 77.2 billion due to a big financial loss in the base period, an earnings report released early today shows.
After-tax profit came to HUF 72.4 bln, well over the HUF 24.3 bln estimate by analysts polled by portfolio.hu.
Revenue fell 24% to HUF 706 bln. Cost of raw materials and consumables were down 32% at HUF 467.9 bln, but total operating costs declined at around the same rate as revenue, dropping 25% to HUF 648 bln.
Operating profit was down 13% at HUF 58 bln.
MOLʼs pre-tax profit increased 92% to HUF 60.1 bln, lifted by narrowing financial losses. The company booked a HUF 700 million financial loss in Q1 compared to a HUF 39.2 bln loss in the base period, when the forint weakened against the dollar.
Earnings per share came to HUF 819 for the period.
Revenue of MOLʼs upstream business fell 19% to HUF 89.5 bln and the segmentʼs EBITDA dropped 30% to HUF 42.2 bln due to a fall in crude prices. MOL noted that overall average realised hydrocarbon prices fell 30% year-on-year during the period. It also said average daily hydrocarbon production rose 9% to 112,000 barrels of oil equivalent.
Revenue of the downstream business fell 23% to HUF 625.3 bln, but the segmentʼs EBITDA climbed 29% to HUF 77.2 bln.
“Downstream posted record high first quarter results supported by an outstanding petrochemical contribution, offsetting the decline in upstream profits, again proving the resilience of MOL’s integrated business model,” Chairman-CEO Zsolt Hernádi (pictured) said in the report.
“MOL Group is well on track to deliver on its $2 bln-plus Clean CCS EBITDA target for 2016,” he added.
MOL had total assets of HUF 3.915 trillion at the end of March, unchanged from the end of 2015. Net assets fell 6% to HUF 1.711 tln.
Total non-current liabilities rose 12% to HUF 1.089 tln and MOLʼs gearing ratio increase to 28% from 20.6%. MOL attributed the rise in debt to refinancing of the redemption of securities issued by special-purpose vehicle Magnolia.
MOL settled a call option with Magnolia for 6,006,495 of its shares, conferring a 5.75% ownership stake, at a price of €45.9905 per share in March.
Policymakers Cut Central Bank Base Rate by 50 bp to 7.75%
Bulgaria's Household Income, Spending Rise 20% in 2023
Spar Magyarország Revenue Climbs Close to 16% in 2023
Hungary Launches HUF 15 bln Tourism Sector Support Program
SUPPORT THE BUDAPEST BUSINESS JOURNAL
Producing journalism that is worthy of the name is a costly business. For 27 years, the publishers, editors and reporters of the Budapest Business Journal have striven to bring you business news that works, information that you can trust, that is factual, accurate and presented without fear or favor.
Newspaper organizations across the globe have struggled to find a business model that allows them to continue to excel, without compromising their ability to perform. Most recently, some have experimented with the idea of involving their most important stakeholders, their readers.
We would like to offer that same opportunity to our readers. We would like to invite you to help us deliver the quality business journalism you require. Hit our Support the BBJ button and you can choose the how much and how often you send us your contributions.
