МОSCOW (MRC) -- Hungarian oil and gas company MOL's third-quarter net income fell 24% year-on-year to HUF 68.8 billion as higher tax payments countered the impact of a wider margin, an earnings report released this morning shows, according to Hungarian news agency MTI, said Bbj.
MOL?s operating expenses fell at a faster rate than revenues, lifting operating profit, but a HUF 15.7 bln tax payment weighed on the bottom line. In the base period, MOL booked net HUF 15.9 bln in tax refunds and deferrals.
MOL?s after-tax profit dropped 17% to HUF 72.1 bln but was still over the HUF 60.3 bln estimate by analysts polled by Portfolio.hu. Earnings per share came to HUF 759.
MOL upgraded guidance for full-year EBITDA, at current cost of supplies and adjusted for one-off effects, to USD 2.2 bln from USD 2.0 bln. Clean CCS EBITDA reached USD 1.68 bln in Q1-Q3.
MOL?s total operating income fell 14% year-on-year to HUF 969.1 bln in Q3. Total operating costs dropped 16% to HUF 875.4 bln. Operating profit was up 18% at HUF 93.6 bln.
A breakdown by business segment shows MOL?s upstream revenue fell 4% to HUF 97.3 bln, but operating profit was HUF 16.5 bln, well over the HUF 0.4 bln in the base period. Downstream revenue declined 14% to HUF 905.0 bln, but operating profit of the segment rose 11% to HUF 88.5 bln.
MOL?s oil and gas production rose 6% to 107,000 barrels per day in Q3. MOL noted that the price of Brent stood at USD 45.8 per barrel in Q3, down from USD 50 in the same period a year earlier.
MOL had total assets of HUF 4,034.3 bln at the end of Q3, up 3% from the end of 2015. Net assets edged down 1% to HUF 1,800.6 bln. Total non-current liabilities dropped 4% to HUF 937.4 bln.
As MRC informed earlier, in September 2016, MOL Group was once again part of the Dow Jones Sustainability World Index. This places the company in the top 15% of integrated oil and gas companies based on its corporate sustainability performance. MOL Group is the only company from the Central Eastern European region to be included in the index.
MOL Hungarian Oil and Gas PLC is an integrated oil and gas company. The Company produces crude oil, petroleum products, bitumens, lubricants and natural gas. MOL owns and operates refineries, oil and gas pipelines, service stations, and natural gas storage facilities.
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