BUDAPEST: Hungarian oil group MOL Plc reported a net profit for the third quarter on Thursday, helped by strong results in its downstream business, growth in its upstream production and a weak forint that offset fall in crude prices.
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.
Net profit was 28.5 billion forints ($115.1 million) in the third quarter compared with a loss of 30 billion forints in the same period of 2013 and a net profit of 24 billion forints in the second quarter.
The company’s so called clean EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation) rose 18 percent to 163.9 billion forints, versus the 145.9 billion forint estimate of eight analysts polled by a business website.
“This increase came mainly from a huge improvement in downstream, while upstream’s contribution was also on the rise,” MOL said in a statement.
