By Veronika Gulyas
BUDAPEST--One of central Europe's largest refineries and
Hungary's biggest company by revenue MOL Nyrt. (MOL.BU) saw its
clean earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and
amortization, one of the key indicators for the sector, drop by 17%
on the year in the second quarter amid lower prices and increased
exploration spending.
MAIN FACTS:
--The company, which is in the middle of large-scale
reorganization, saw clean Ebitda of HUF95 billion ($405 million)
versus HUF97.5 billion forecast by analysts in a poll by
portfolio.hu.
--Lower hydrocarbon price driven by lower Croatian gas prices, a
drop in production after MOL sold 49% of its Baitex field in
Russia, royalty rate rising to 10% from 5% in Croatia and higher
exploration spending.
--Net profit rose by 27% in the second quarter versus a year ago
to HUF24 billion forints, compared to HUF23.4 billion expected.
--Earnings dropped to HUF221 versus HUF243 per share a year
earlier.
--In full 2014, capital expenditure or Capex is expected to
total $1.6 billion-$1.9 billion, skewed toward the firm's upstream
segment with above 50% contribution. Capex stood at HUF247 billion
at the end of June, of which HUF98 billion was spent on
acquisition.
--Indebtedness ratio, or net gearing narrowed to 18.5% versus
21.3% a year ago, MOL said.
--MOL suffered from lower production amid restructuring its
portfolio, but Zsolt Hernadi, chief executive and chairman said he
expects to see higher production levels from the next quarters
onward.
--The company sees opportunities in expanding its regional
retail markets, Mr. Hernadi was quoted as saying in the report. "We
recently acquired more than 200 service stations from [Italy's] eni
and I hope we can announce further deals in the region soon," the
CEO said.
--MOL shares closed down 0.5% at HUF11,345 on the Budapest Stock
Exchange.
Write to Veronika Gulyas at veronika.gulyas@wsj.com; Twitter:
@VeronikaGulyas1
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