February 28 (SeeNews) - Romania's Rompetrol Rafinare [BSE:RRC] posted a $48.9 million (44.7 million euro) net loss in 2019, compared to a $27.6 million net loss in 2018, strongly affected by the volatility of the profile market and local macroeconomic factors, it said.
The declining financial indicators were mainly influenced by the fluctuations of the refining margin and by macroeconomic factors in Romania, namely a 7.5% depreciation of the Romanian leu against the U.S. dollar and inflation of 4% in 2019, the company said in a statement filed with the Bucharest Stock Exchange on Thursday.
The volatility of quotations on the international market of raw materials and finished petroleum products also was a reason for the widening of the loss.
Rompetrol Rafinare's consolidated operating result (EBITDA) fell by 12% on the year to close to $131.3 million in 2019.
Gross turnover edged down by 1% to $5.2 billion during the review period.
In 2019, the two refineries owned by the group registered a 7% increase in the total volumes of raw materials processed. For the first time in its 40-year history, the Petromidia refinery exceeded the threshold of 6 million tons, processing 6.33 million tons, a historical record. Also, the Vega Ploiești refinery recorded record numbers - 436 kt, compared to the 406 kt processed in 2018.
Rompetrol Rafinare continued to be one of the main contributors to Romania's state budget, paying over $1.6 billion in 2019.
Rompetrol Rafinare is the core asset of Dutch-based KMG International, formerly The Rompetrol Group, which is fully owned by Kazakhstan's state-owned energy company KazMunaiGaz Group. Through its two oil refineries, Rompetrol Rafinare provides over 40% of Romania's refining capacity and is the only producer of polymers in the country.
Rompetrol Rafinare's shares traded 9.78% lower at 0.0415 lei as at at 1224 CET on Friday on the Bucharest Stock Exchange.
($ = 0.9138 euro)
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