Austrian oil and gas company OMV AG (OMV.VI) Wednesday said its first-quarter net profit rose 34%on the year, due to a strong oil price, and in spite of a lower refining margin.
Net profit attributable to shareholders came to EUR446 million, up from EUR332 milliona year earlier, and in line with analysts estimate of EUR447 million.
Adjusted earnings before interest and taxes, or clean EBIT, rose 65%,to EUR792 million, from EUR480 million, beating analysts' estimate of EUR748 million.
OMV didn't provide a specific 2008 guidance, but said it still expects the crude oil price and the dollar-euro exchange rate to remain highly volatile throughout the year, and the full-year refining margin to come in slightly below 2007 level.
In the first quarter, OMV's refining margin was $4.24, $1.01 below the previous first quarter, while production remained unchanged at 322,000 barrels of oil equivalent a day.
Yet, OMV's sales grew 30%, helped mainly by the high oil price, to EUR5.96 billion, from EUR4.59 billion a year earlier.
OMV's stock closed 0.9% up Tuesday in a Vienna ATX 20 index which closed down 0.9%.