Caltex Australia Says 1Q Profits Surged

   By David Winning 
 

SYDNEY--Caltex Australia Ltd. (CTX.AU), one of Australia's biggest producers of oil products such as gasoline, Thursday signaled sharply higher profit in the first quarter of its fiscal year.

Managing Director Julian Segal said the company's net profit rose 69% in the three months through March on a replacement-cost-of-sales basis, which excludes the value of the company's crude inventories.

First-quarter net profit totaled 162 million Australian dollars (US$129 million), up from A$96 million at the same stage of 2014. The quarterly figure is unaudited pending a more complete examination of the company's accounts.

Caltex's historical cost profit, which includes the value of its inventories, also rose, to A$174 million. The figure includes a gain of A$12 million after tax on the value of oil held in storage at sites such as its Lytton refinery in Brisbane. A year earlier, the company's historical cost profit totaled A$121 million.

-Write to David Winning at [e-mail]

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