Orlen Q4 profit drops

WSE-listed fuel giant Orlen had PLN 1.59 billion Q4 net profit, down by 11 percent y/y. For the whole year, the net profit amounted to PLN 6.56 billion up from PLN 5.26 billion the year before. EBITDA amounted to PLN 2.64 billion, down by 23.8 percent y/y, while revenues stood at PLN 24.73 billion, up by 8 percent y/y. The Q4 results were mostly affected by the negative impact of macro conditions, which were only partially offset by higher sales volumes. “Orlen achieved record sales volumes in all operating segments in 2017. The total sales volume was 42,382,000 metric tons and was higher by 7 percent y/y mainly due to the improvement of the market situation related to the introduction of a regulatory package limiting the impact of so-called gray area in fuel trade, increasing the capacity utilization in the Unipetrol Group after the rebuilding of the ethylene production plant completed in 2016 and the increase in the main products: gasoline (by 19 percent), diesel oil (by 23 percent), light fuel oil (by 23 percent), heavy fuel oil (by 44 percent), ethylene (by 12 percent) and propylene (by 28 percent),” the company said in its Q4 results report.