February 27 (SeeNews) - Serbian oil and gas company NIS [BEL:NIIS] said on Monday its net profit rose by 3% in 2016 to 15 billion dinars ($128 million/121 million euro) despite adverse macroeconomic environment and the low prices of crude oil.
NIS's consolidated earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) amounted to 39.8 billion dinars in 2016, compared with 46.5 billion dinars in the previous year, the group said in a statement.
“We take a tremendous pride in our 2016 performance, as it yet again demonstrated our system’s success and resilience, which is based on a continuously growing efficiency of the business operations on the one hand and on investing into the further development, on the other," the CEO of NIS, Kirill Kravchenko, said in the statement.
The company said it invested 26.1 billion dinars in development projects, while its liabilities related to taxes and other public revenues in 2016 rose by 7% to 163.3 billion dinars.
NIS produced 1.46 million tonnes of oil equivalent in 2016, with crude oil refining volume rising by 1% to 3.3 million tonnes. The company produced a total of 147,505 МWh of electricity, an annual increase of 19%.
"Within the period of 2017 and 2019, Gazprom Neft shall invest more than 100 billion dinars into NIS strategic projects. These investments will be fundamental for further NIS development and ensure a secure future for the company, our employees and shareholders," Kravchenko pointed out.
Shareholders will receive 4 billion dinars of the profit of NIS, as the Serbian company said it plans to keep its 25% dividend payout ratio for the fourth consecutive year.
Russia's Gazprom Neft owns 56.15% of the share capital of NIS. The Serbian company, with a stock market capitalisation of 122.3 billion dinars, is a component of the blue-chip index of the Belgrade bourse, BELEX15, and the performance of the index is strongly influenced by the movements in the company's share price. In 2016, NIS generated the highest trading turnover among the blue chips on the Belgrade bourse, of 982.4 million dinars.
NIS shares gained 1.2% on the Belgrade Stock Exchange on Monday and closed at 760 dinars.
(1 euro=123.932 dinars)
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