OMV: second-quarter earnings growth above expectations

(CercleFinance.com) - Austrian oil and gas group OMV said on Wednesday its second-quarter operating profit rose more than expected, notably thanks to reduced production costs.


Quarterly operating profit - or earnings before interest and tax adjusted for special items and inventory holding gains or losses ("clean CCS EBIT") - rose by 44% to 1.04 billion euros.

This figure exceeded the consensus by 8%.

At its upstream unit, production rose to 490 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boe/d), while production costs decreased by 9%.

At its downstream unit, the group's refining margin indicator stood at 3.2 dollars per barrel.

However, analysts at Berenberg noted that production guidance for 2019 is now "slightly below 500,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boe/d)" versus "around 500,000 boe/d".

"This should not come as a surprise to the market, in our view, given the first-half average production," the German broker said.

The OMV stock, which is listed in Vienna, is currently up 3.8%.

Copyright (c) 2019 CercleFinance.com. All rights reserved.