Key achievements
- INA Group’s CCS EBITDA, excl. special items, amounted to HRK 3,669 million, 9% above the level in 2014, while net profit, excl. special items, amounted to HRK 58 million
- Continued trend of growth of domestic crude production:increase of 20%compared to 2014
- Stable financial position of the Company
- TotalCAPEX amounted to HRK 1,650 million, out of which 84% invested in Croatia
- Refinery production increased by 13% and refined product sales by 10%
Zagreb, February 23, 2016 – INA Group’s EBITDA in 2015, excl. special items, increased by 10% in relation to the same period last year, reaching HRK 2,952 million, while the CCSEBITDA, excl. special items,amounted to HRK 3,669million, 9% above the level in 2014. Net profit, excl. special items, amounted to HRK 58 million.Total investments reached HRK 1,650 million, which is stable having in mind the overall deteriorated environment.
Given the low oil prices, INA’s result in 2015 stayed stable compared to the previous year, which is a positive achievement for an Upstream oriented company. Halving Brent prices weighted on the result, but this was offset by weakening of HRK against the USD, a more supportive Downstream environment and increasing hydrocarbon production. Net debt remained stable at HRK 3,032 million and gearing amounted to slightly higher but nevertheless very safe 22.3%.
Net profit of the Company excl. special items amounted to HRK 58 million, while net loss, although lower than in 2014, amounted to HRK (1,418) million, impacted by the special items in the total amount of HRK 1,476 million. The major part of these one offs relates to the asset impairments in the Upstream segment, driven by the deteriorated oil price and ongoing Syrian crisis. The further impairment of assets in Syria which affected the final result was necessary and unavoidable due to the political and safety situation in the country, but it is important to highlight that it is just an accounting adjustment with no cash effect.The costs of impairment, however, are an expenditure that is not tax deductible in accordance with the Profit Tax Act. The Company has kept a smaller part of its assets in case geopolitical circumstances change and enable the return to Syria.
In the Exploration & Production segment, constant efforts in well workovers and production optimization, as well as new fields going into production, resulted in reversing the natural decline trend from previous years: overall production volumes registered an increase of 6%, with domestic crude oil production increase by 20%. Operating profit of the segment stayed positive and amounted to HRK 372 million, in spite of the HRK 1,004 million effect of the special items, most significant being the impairments of the assets.Exploration and Production segment’s CAPEX in 2015 amounted to HRK 840 million. Capital investments in Croatia amounted to HRK 678 million and capital investments abroad HRK 162 million.
Downstream CCS EBITDA excl. special items turned positive for the first time in more than five years and amounted to HRK 307 million, while EBITDA amounted to HRK (575) million, a considerable improvement over 2014 levels. Among other measures, change in INA’s Retail operating model is definitively a strong move forward with the aim of ensuring INA a more competitive position. Total capital expenditures amounted to HRK 613 million in 2015, HRK 138 million higher compared to 2014. Refining and Marketing capital expenditures amounted to HRK 451 million and mainly related to logistics projects, while Retail segment expenditures reached HRK 161 million, HRK 5 million more than in 2014.
President of the Management Board of INA Mr. Zoltán Áldott said: “2015 was a challenging year for the entire oil & gas industry, nevertheless INA managed to provide a 9% increase of CCS EBITDA in spite of generally deteriorated environment, amounting to HRK 3,669 million. Net result on the other hand, was heavily impacted by year’s end impairments of more than HRK 1.2 billion. Majority of impairments relate to Exploration & Production segment, especially Syrian assets, and have no cash effect on INA operations.
Significant efforts made in the Exploration & Production segment, resulting in 6% increased hydrocarbon production, as well as improved refining environment with 24% increase in average crack spread, were not sufficient to compensate for the effect of halved Brent price on Exploration and Production segment. Besides the Brent price, falling gas prices for industrial buyers also impacted the profitability and the sales level. With such significant factors being outside the Company’s scope, internal optimization and productivity increase measures gain additional importance. Retail restructuring is definitely one of the major steps made during 2015 leading in this direction, which helps to bring INA’s retail operating cost in line with the competition.
Nevertheless, having in mind the ongoing low oil prices environment, the Company will need to take additional steps, through combination of capital and operational expenses decrease, to ensure future financial strength and sustainability of its operations.”Documents