MOL Posts Strongest April-June Quarter, Raises 2015 EBITDA View

   By Margit Feher 
 

BUDAPEST--Central European integrated oil and gas company MOL Nyrt. (MOL.BU), Hungary's largest firm by revenue, raised Wednesday its 2015 earnings estimate after reporting its strongest quarterly results for April-June, boosted by robust refining profits.

"We expect to significantly exceed our previous expectations and surpass our 2015 clean earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization target by 10%--reaching a level around $2.2 billion and matching our 2014 performance," Chairman and Chief Executive Zsolt Hernadi said. That forecast holds even amid an oil price environment of $60 a barrel, the company added.

In the second quarter, MOL's clean Ebitda, a key indicator of profitability in the oil industry, was 179.5 billion Hungarian forints ($639.8 million), up 89% from HUF95.1 billion a year earlier. It beat analysts' median forecast by 5.7% in a poll by Hungarian online business news agency Portfolio for HUF169.9 billion. Clean earnings don't include the revaluation of inventories and one-off items.

Net profit rose to HUF62.7 billion, from HUF24.0 billion a year earlier. As a result, earnings rose to HUF661 a share from HUF245 a share a year earlier and versus analysts' forecast for HUF565.6 a share.

Downstream--or refining and marketing--operations posted their historically strongest quarterly result on a further strengthening of refining margins, highest ever petrochemical margins and seasonal increase in demand. Gasoline consumption of Hungary, Slovakia and Croatia grew by 5% and approached pre-crisis peaks, MOL said. Downstream clean Ebitda amounted to HUF127.4 billion, up steeply from HUF28.6 billion a year earlier and exceeded analysts' forecast for HUF112.7 billion.

The clean Ebitda of the upstream--or exploration and production--segment was HUF53.5 billion, down from HUF62.4 billion and also lower than analysts' forecast for HUF55.0 billion. Although oil prices recovered somewhat from first-quarter lows, natural gas prices came under pressure due to the about six-month time lag applied in its pricing versus oil prices. Reduced regulated gas prices in Croatia, impairment charges in Egypt dampened the results.

Production output, meanwhile, remained nearly flat in comparison to the previous quarter, reaching 104,000 barrels of oil equivalent a day during the second quarter as Kurdistani and North-Sea barrels replaced diminishing Hungarian and Croatian output.

MOL indicated Wednesday that it's ready to seek out further acquisition targets to expand its international exploration and production portfolio.

MOL "can benefit from the lower oil price environment by seizing attractive new opportunities in the markets where we operate. We aim to balance further the portfolio in terms of country risk," it added.

Furthermore, the company has reviewed its growth prospects excluding acquisitions. It anticipates organic capital expenditure will amount to $1.3 billion this year, financed from its operating cash flow.

Write to Margit Feher at [e-mail]; Twitter: @margitfeher

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