BUDAPEST--MOL Nyrt. (MOL.BU), one of central Europe's largest
refineries and Hungary's biggest company by revenue turned
profitable in the third quarter as the firm's upstream segment
started growing and as the dollar strengthened against the forint,
the firm's earnings report published Wednesday shows.
MAIN FACTS:
-- Clean net profit was 28.5 billion forints ($122 million),
compared to HUF30 billion loss the same period a year ago but
nevertheless lower than the HUF31 billion profit expected by
analysts in a poll by portfolio.hu.
-- Clean earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and
amortization, or Ebitda, one of the key indicators for the sector,
was up 18% on the year at HUF163.9 billion, versus HUF145.9 billion
expected in the same poll. besides a strong downstream, there was
some improvement in the upstream segment as well where the
declining trend in production got reversed as the overall Central
European contribution rose slightly and production from the Iraqi
projects in Kurdistan also rose.
-- Earnings per share was HUF290 versus HUF359 loss 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 HUF353 billion
at the end of September.
-- Indebtedness ratio, or net gearing narrowed to 17.2% versus
20.7% a year ago, MOL said.
-- Zsolt Hernadi, chief executive and chairman was very positive
about the quarter and said he sees significant upside potential in
the coming quarters as well. "A major breakthrough supporting this
assumption is the official approval of the Akri-Bijeel Block Field
Development Plan," the CEO noted.
-- MOL shares closed up 0.8% at HUF11,640 on the Budapest Stock
Exchange.
Write to Veronika Gulyas at veronika.gulyas@wsj.com; Twitter:
@VeronikaGulyas1
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