IRPC net profit to fall short of analyst forecasts

22 October 2007 11:25  [Source: ICIS news]

BANGKOK (ICIS news)--IRPC said Monday its 2007 net profit would rise about 50% to Bt10bn, short of analyst forecasts due to rising oil prices.

 

Average refining margins in the final six months of the year would be similar to the $11-$12 per barrel in the first half of the year, a company spokesman told ICIS news.

 

That includes major petrochemical products naphtha, ethylene, propylene, high-density polyethylene (HDPE) and polypropylene.

 

Only one of 15 Bangkok-based brokerages forecast that IRPC would earn less than Bt10bn this year.

 

The consensus estimated 2007 net profit at Bt12.77bn, with a high forecast of Bt16.7bn by Adkinson Securities.

 

Last year, IRPC’s net profit fell 89% to Bt6.8bn from Bt61.5bn in 2005, mainly because the company recorded one-time gains two years ago from debt restructuring and was saddled with a major shutdown.

 

It made a net profit of Bt8.02bn in the six months of this year. It has no plans for a shutdown.

 

IRPC’s refinery has a capacity now of 190,000 barrels per day, up from about 170,000 bpd last year, the spokesman said.

 

It has an olefins capacity of 728,000 tonnes a year and an aromatics capacity of 367,000 tonnes a year.

 

The company is spending about Bt1.3bn to expand its total refining capacity to 250,000 bpd by 2009-10, the spokesman said.

 

IRPC operates southeast Asia’s largest integrated petrochemical complex.

By: Daniel Ten Kate
+65 6780 4359

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