MOL Q1 profit falls; core EBITDA up 47% on strong downstream

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Hungarian oil and gas group MOL Plc's first-quarter net profit fell 56 percent from a year earlier, but its core EBITDA jumped 47 percent in annual terms, thanks to a strong performance of its downstream and petrochemicals businesses, said Reuters.

The company's so called clean EBITDA, or core earnings, stood at 154.1 billion forints (USD570.3 million), exceeding analysts' median forecast of 145.3 billion in a poll by business website Portfolio. It was also above 146.5 billion forints in the fourth quarter of 2014.

MOL posted a net profit of 9.1 billion forints, which was below the profit of 20.8 billion in the corresponding period of last year, but showed a big improvement from a loss of 69.3 billion forints for the fourth quarter of 2014.

MOL operates refineries in Hungary, Slovakia and Croatia. It also has exploration and production assets in the North Sea and countries including Pakistan, Iraq, and Russia.

"We are even more confident that our annual USD2 billion clean CCS EBITDA target can be achieved," MOL Chairman and Chief Executive Zsolt Hernadi said in the first-quarter report. MOL said low crude prices weighed on its upstream performance, but its downstream segment produced its historically strongest first-quarter result.

"The strong performance was supported by stronger USD, further improving refining conditions as well as sustained width of the integrated petrochemical margin," MOL said.

This year MOL had launched a new three-year programme in its downstream business to boost profitability. In the first quarter, MOL's downstream business reported a rise in the so called clean EBITDA to 74.3 billion forints from 22.2 billion in annual terms, despite the fact that fuel market demand tends to be seasonally the weakest in the first quarter of the year. A weakening of the forint versus the dollar contributed to the downstream result.

In upstream, MOL's daily production was 103,300 barrels per day, compared with 103,500 barrels in the previous quarter. Upstream EBITDA, excluding special items, was 60.7 billion forints compared with 65.3 billion in the fourth quarter of 2014, and was 23.2 percent lower year-on-year.

As MRC informed earlier, MOL is applying its squeeze-out right for shares of petrochemicals company TVK, a Hungarian manufacturer of olefins and polyolefins such as polyethylene and polypropylene. The agency added that MOL wound up a voluntary public purchase offer for the shares on Friday, raising its stake in TVK from 94.86% to 99.1%, providing all preconditions were met.

MOL previously said Hungarian authorities had dismissed the allegations against MOL, which now holds a 49.1% share of INA. Hungary's government holds a 24.6% stake in MOL.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Hyundai Cosmo Petrochemical (HCP) is in plans to restart its No. 2 paraxylene (PX) plant, reported Apic-online.

A Polymerupdate source in South Korea informed that the plant is planned to be restarted in early June 2015. It was shut in early April 2015 for maintenance turnaround.

Located at Daesan in South Korea, the plant has a production capacity of 800,000 mt/year.

As MRC wrote previously, this PS plant jointly built by Cosmo Oil and Hyundai Oilbank in South Korea began commercial operations in January 2013.

Paraxylene is used in producing polyester, a raw material for plastic bottles and textiles.

Hyundai Cosmo Petrochemical (HCP) is a 50-50 venture between Japan’s Cosmo Oil and South Korea’s Hyundai Oilbank.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- LyondellBasell, the world’s biggest maker of polypropylene plastic, has announced that its Supervisory Board has authorized the company's Management Board to declare an interim dividend of USD0.78 per share, representing an 11% increase from the company's first quarter 2015 dividend, reported the company on its site.

The interim dividend will be paid June 15, 2015 to shareholders of record June 1, 2015, with an ex-dividend date of May 28, 2015.

The company also announced that at its Annual General Meeting on May 6, 2015, shareholders approved a new share repurchase program authorizing the company to repurchase up to 10% of the company's shares over the next 18 months. The repurchases will be executed from time to time through open market or privately negotiated transactions.

"The company has returned approximately USD17.2 billion through share repurchases and dividends since January 2011 and, since initiating share repurchases in 2013, has repurchased approximately 110 million shares. This new share repurchase program and the increase in the regular interim dividend is reflective of our continuing commitment to returning value to our shareholders," said CEO, Bob Patel.

As MRC informed before, last summer, LyondellBasell delayed the start-up of expanded production at its ethylene plant in La Porte, Tex. because of a mechanical issue with a compressor at the plant, which was partially to blame for the extended turnaround at La Porte.

LyondellBasell Industries NV is a manufacturing company. The company produces chemicals, fuels, and polymers used for packaging, clean fuels, durable textiles, medical applications, construction materials, and automotive parts. LyondellBasell Industries operates globally and is headquartered in the Netherlands. LyondellBasell is also a leading licensor of polypropylene and polyethylene technologies. The more than 250 polyolefin process licenses granted by LyondellBasell are twice that of any other polyolefin technology licensor.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Ferro Corporation has signed a definitive agreement with the shareholders of Barcelona-based Nubiola Pigmentos to acquire 100% of the equity of Nubiola, on a cash-free and debt-free basis, for EUR146 million, the company announced.

Nubiola is among the worldwide producers of specialty inorganic pigments and the among the world’s largest producers of Ultramarine Blue, a high-value pigment for plastics and construction industries due to its durability, unique color attributes and its whitening capability. Based on 2014 EBITDA, excluding expected transaction synergies, the acquisition purchase price represents a transaction multiple of approximately 7X. The transaction will be funded with excess cash and a draw on the Company’s existing revolving credit facility. The transaction is expected to close within the next 60 days, subject to customary closing conditions.

Other products of Nubiola include specialty Iron Oxides, Chrome Oxide Greens and Corrosion Inhibitors. Nubiola generated 2014 annual sales of $119 million, based on the current euro exchange rate, and achieved compound annual growth of 4.1% over the last three years. The 101-year-old family-owned company employs approximately 750 people, including temporary employees, and has production facilities in Spain, Colombia, Romania, and India and a joint venture in China. Nubiola sells into more than 85 countries. The majority of Nubiola’s customers serve the plastics and construction industries.

Commenting on the proposed transaction, Peter Thomas, Chairman, President and CEO of Ferro Corporation, said, "Nubiola is an excellent strategic fit with Ferro, as we strengthen our position as a global color solutions provider. The acquisition will significantly expand our product portfolio and geographic footprint and more than triple the size of our addressable market in inorganic pigments to greater than $1 billion. Nubiola will bring technology leadership on a global scale in Ultramarine Blue, along with a range of other high-value pigment and corrosion inhibitor product lines."

As MRC informed earlier, in 2014 A. Schulman, Inc. completed its acquisition of a selected majority of the assets of the Specialty Plastics business segment from Ferro Corporation for USD91 million in cash.

Ferro provides manufacturers cars, containers and packaging, building and industrial products, household furnishings, personal electronics to medical devices.
MRC

MOSCOW (MRC) -- EU countries will be required to reduce the use of the commonest and most polluting plastic bags drastically under new rules voted by Parliament, as per EP's press release.

"This legislation will create a genuine win-win situation" said Margrete Auken (Greens/EFA, DK), who is steering the legislation through Parliament. "We're talking about an immense environmental problem. Billions of plastic bags end up directly in nature as untreated waste. It damages nature, harms fish, birds, and we have to get to grips with this",. she added, after Parliament accepted her second reading recommendation that it endorse the deal struck with the Council of Ministers in November last year.

"The European Commission said that countries should deal with the matter themselves, but in fact they are not! 740 million euros per annum, according to the Commission's own calculations, will be saved".

EU member states will be able to choose: either to take measures to reduce annual average consumption of plastic bags to 90 lightweight bags per citizen by the end of 2019 and 40 by the end of 2025, or ensure that by the end of 2018, no more light plastic bags are handed over free of charge to shoppers.

Furthermore, the European Commission is required to assess the impact on the environment of oxo-degradable plastic materials, which fragment into small particles, and propose suitable measures. By 2017, the European Commission will have to propose labelling and marking measures for an EU-wide recognition of biodegradable and compostable plastic bags.

Lightweight plastic bags thinner than 50 microns – the vast majority of plastic carrier bags used in the EU – are less reusable than thicker models and become waste more quickly. They are also more prone to litter the environment and severely pollute water bodies and aquatic eco-systems.

In 2010 every EU citizen used an estimated 198 plastic carrier bags, some 90% of which were lightweight. In a business-as-usual scenario, consumption of plastic bags is expected to increase further. An estimated eight billion plastic carrier bags became litter in the EU in 2010.
MRC