MOSCOW (MRC) -- Czech downstream oil group Unipetrol posted a first-quarter net profit of 1.995 billion Czech crowns (USD78.13 million), up from 937 million crown a year before, boosted by improved margins and higher sales volumes, said Reuters.
It marks Unipetrol's sixth quarterly profit since 2011 after it had to write down refining assets in recent years. Analysts in a Reuters poll had expected on average a net profit of 1.59 billion crowns in the January-March period.
Revenue at Unipetrol, majority owned by Poland's PKN Orlen , decreased 16 percent year-on-year to 23.98 billion crowns due to a 50 percent slump in crude oil price, the company said. Analysts had expected 25.16 billion crowns revenue on average.
As MRC informed earlier, Unipetrol expects petrochemicals to become the largest source of revenue for the company in 2013-2017. Unipetrol wants to use the favourable market conditions to reinforce its position on the petrochemical market and optimise its operations.
Unipetrol , a.s. is a group of companies operating in the petrochemical industry in the Czech Republic. In 2005 Unipetrol became a part of the PKN ORLEN Group, the largest oil processor in Central Europe. The UNIPETROL Group is oriented mostly towards oil processing, fuel distribution and petrochemical production. In all of these business areas the Unipetrol Group is among the key players both in the Czech Republic and on the Central European market. The Group ranks among the leading firms in the Czech Republic in terms of its revenues, and employs almost 4,000 people.
MRC