(Repeats story published on May 13)
* Unipetrol <> first-quarter 2008 earnings
* May 15, around 09:00 a.m. (0700 GMT)
* Q1 net profit average estimate at 655 million crowns
($40.6 million)
By Jan Korselt
PRAGUE (Reuters) - Czech petrochemical and refinery group
Unipetrol <> is expected to post a 58 percent drop in
net profit for the first quarter as high oil prices depressed
its margins, a Reuters poll showed on Tuesday.
Nine analysts gave an average estimate of 655 million
crowns, down from 1.56 billion in the January-March period last
year.
Revenue was seen 2 percent lower at 20.24 billion crowns,
and operating profit at 975 million, down also 58 percent.
"The main reason for the year-on-year decrease in operating
performance should be the weak petchem margin environment as
well as the low capacity utilisation of the refineries," said
Olena Kyrylenko, an analyst at KBC Securities.
The average oil price increased by 67 percent year-on-year
in the first quarter, which Unipetrol was not able to fully
translate into higher prices of its products.
Another negative factor for Unipetrol was an 8 percent rise
of the crown to the euro, as the key petrochemical revenues are
mostly denominated in the European currency, Kyrylenko added.
Conversely in the first half of last year, the business
environment was exceptional in terms of both margins and output,
distorting the year-on-year comparison, analysts said.
Unipetrol shares have lost 22 percent so far this year,
underperforming the Prague bourse's PX index <>, which has
lost 10 percent in the same period.
The stock traded at 12.5 times expected earnings in 2008,
with a premium against its parent company, Polish PKN Orlen
<>, trading at 8.5 times expected profit.
"We expect a neutral market reaction to the (quarterly)
figures, as the market has already priced in the negative impact
of the macro environment on Unipetrol's earnings," KBC's
Kyrylenko said.
Consolidated figures in billions of crowns:
Q1/08 Average Median Range Q1/07
Revenue 20.238 20.545 13.074-24.618 20.633
EBITDA 1.922 1.886 1.347- 2.678 3.310
Oper. profit (EBIT) 0.975 1.024 0.561- 1.769 2.318
Net profit 0.655 0.710 0.376- 1.032 1.564
NOTE - The following banks and equity houses took part in
the poll: Atlantik FT, BH Securities, Cyrrus, Erste Bank/Ceska
Sporitelna, KBC/Patria Finance, Raiffeisenbank, UBS Investment
Research, UniCredit Global Research, Wood & Company.
Estimates for revenue were provided by seven analysts and
for EBITDA by six analysts.
(Editing by Elaine Hardcastle)
