BUDAPEST: Hungarian oil and gas company MOL booked net income of HUF 43.5 billion in the fourth quarter, improving over a HUF 435.3 bln loss in the base period, when it wrote off more than HUF 500 bln on production assets, state news agency MTI reported, quoting from an earnings report released early today. After-tax profit reached HUF 32.1 bln, well under the HUF 53.5 bln estimate by analysts polled by financial news portal portfolio.hu. Earnings per share stood at HUF 484.
Revenue edged down 1% to HUF 990.3 bln, while costs of raw materials and consumables climbed 7% to HUF 724.7 bln. Nevertheless, total operating expenses fell 36% to HUF 932.4 bln because of the big write-off in the base period.
Operating profit came to HUF 57.9 bln, up from a loss of HUF 467.6 bln in Q4 2015. MOL books full-year net income of HUF 263.5 bln. MOLʼs net income for the full year came to HUF 263.5 bln, improving over a HUF 261 bln loss in 2015, when the Q4 write-off bit into the bottom line.
Revenue dropped 14% to HUF 3.578 trillion. Costs of raw materials and consumables fell at a slightly faster rate, declining 15% to HUF 2.571 tln. Total operating costs were down 26% at HUF 3.27 tln. Operating profit reached HUF 307.9 bln, up from a HUF 217.2 bln loss.
EPS for the full year was HUF 2,872. In its guidance for 2017, MOL put EBITDA, at the current cost of supplies and adjusted for one-off effects, at “at least USD 2 bln.” It targets organic CAPEX of “up to USD 1.2 bln” and upstream production of around 110,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day.
In 2016, clean CCS EBITDA reached USD 2.15 bln and organic CAPEX was USD 1 bln. Balance sheet shows short-term debt growth. MOL had total assets of HUF 4.103 tln at the end of December, up 5% from 12 months earlier. Long-term debt fell 5% to HUF 436.9 bln, but short-term debt jumped 113% to HUF 440.4 bln.
MOLʼs gearing ratio rose from 21% to 25%, which the company attributed to the acquisition of more than 5% of its shares from special-purpose vehicle Magnolia in Q1 and purchases of treasury shares in the second half of the year.
