Hellenic Petroleum: Net income up 57 pct in H1

Greece’s largest oil refiner, Hellenic Petroleum, has posted strong results both for Q2 and H1 2016. The results, released yesterday, showed that in Q2 2016, group adjusted EBITDA was 156 million euros, an increase of 20 percent in the Q2 2015 figure of 130 million euros. This led adjusted EBITDA for H1 2016 to come to 326 million euros despite the significant drop of Med benchmark FCC and hydrocracking refining margins by 35 percent and 12 percent respectively and weaker domestic market demand. A higher number of production units available, higher output and improved performance, higher petrochemi- cal sales, increased domestic retail market shares and sales volumes mitigated these effects with the result that net group income came to 104 million euros for H1 2016, a 57 percent increase on the figure for the same period last year (66 million euros). On a quarterly basis, net income came to 72 million euros, a 47 percent increase on Q2 2015’s figure of 49 million euros. Adjusted net income came to 108 million euros, a 17 percent improvement on the relevant figure for last year which stood at 93 million euros. Export growth was cited as a key driver behind the results, doubling in Q2 2016 from 2.3 million metric tons to 1.1 million metric tons, contributing a record high of 60 percent to sales.