Revenues climbed 12% to HUF 1,025.6 bln. Costs of raw materials and consumables increased 11% to HUF 747.7 bln, while total operating costs rose 13% to HUF 919.1 bln.
Operating profit was up 5% at HUF 106.4 bln.
MOLʼs bottom line was lifted by a HUF 5.2 bln net financial gain, compared to a HUF 10.6 bln loss in the base period.
Earnings per share came to HUF 1,011.
Second-quarter earnings were over the HUF 70.1 bln estimate by analysts earlier polled by financial news portal portfolio.hu.
In a press release, MOL noted that first-half EBITDA, excluding one-offs and adjusted for current cost of supply, had risen 20% year-on-year to USD 1.3 bln. The company raised its guidance for full-year clean CCS EBITDA to “above USD 2.3 bln,” up from “at least USD 2 bln” previously.
At the same time, MOL reduced its guidance for organic CAPEX to around USD 1 bln, implying at least USD 1.3 bln simplified free cash flow for the year.
Boosted by MOLʼs strong second-quarter earnings report, the Budapest Stock Exchangeʼs main BUX index was up 0.72% at 36,679.48 about 15 minutes after the opening bell on Friday. MOL was up 1.50% at HUF 23,000 in early trade.
In a breakdown by business segment, MOL said revenue of its upstream business rose 15% year-on-year to HUF 99.5 bln in Q2. Upstream EBITDA jumped 47% to HUF 68.9 bln. MOL said the segment benefited during the period from a HUF 5.6 bln impairment reversal of receivables as a result of cash collected from Egypt by Croatian unit INA.
Revenue of the downstream business rose 11% to HUF 895.2 bln, but the businessʼs EBITDA dropped 36% to HUF 73.1 bln. However, excluding one-offs and adjusted for current cost of supply, EBITDA edged down just 2% to HUF 92.2 bln.
MOL had total assets of HUF 3,934.0 bln at the end of June, down 4% from twelve months earlier. Total equity rose 11% to HUF 1,933.3 bln. Long-term debt dropped 12% to HUF 400.3 bln.
MOL said its net debt declined to HUF 514 bln, reducing the net gearing ratio to 21.0% at the end of Q2 from 27.9% twelve months earlier.
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