Czech Unipetrol swings to petchem operating profit of €12m

31 August 2010 11:47  [Source: ICIS news]

PRAGUE (ICIS)--Unipetrol swung to a petrochemical operating profit of koruna (Kc) 298m ($15.2m, €12.0m) in the second quarter of this year, compared with a Kc457m loss in the same period of last year, on higher olefin and polyolefn margins and better olefin and benzene sales, it said on Tuesday.

The Czech company’s petrochemical sales revenues were up 41% at Kc8.9bn.

Unipetrol's overall second-quarter net profit was Kc520m, against a net loss of Kc359m a year ago, with sales revenues up 48% at Kc23.4bn on higher demand for fuels.

"The impact of the economic recession is, however, still visible,” said Unipetrol CEO Piotr Chelminski. “Efficiency improvements and strict cost control remain therefore the key elements of our further efforts."

Unipetrol's petrochemical sales volumes edged up 4% to 472,000 tonnes, while its model olefin and polyolefin margins improved by 74% to €318/tonne and by 15% to €279/tonne, respectively.

A tight market helped to drive propylene and polypropylene (PP) quotations while benzene sales volumes rose by 35% to 53,000 tonnes, it noted.

Investment bank Wood & Company said that Unipetrol benefited from shutdowns in Europe, which led to customers - unable to replace missing supplies with imports that take about six weeks to deliver - “flooding the company with orders”.

Unipetrol is 63% owned by Poland's PKN Orlen, which reported its own results earlier on Tuesday.

($1 = Kc19.61, €1 = Kc24.84)

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By: Will Conroy
+44 20 8652 3214

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