May 10 (SeeNews) - Serbian oil and gas company NIS [BEL:NIIS] said on Wednesday its net profit rose to 5.4 billion dinars ($47.7 million/43.9 million euro) in the first quarter of 2017 from 261 million dinars in the respective period of last year, as a result of the increase in operational efficiency.
NIS's consolidated earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) amounted to 11.1 billion dinars in the first quarter of 2017, compared with 3.8 billion dinars in the previous year, the group said in a statement.
The good results achieved in the first quarter have been accomplished due to a disciplined implementation of programmes for the increase of operational efficiency, the increase of the total turnover of crude oil and petroleum products, as well as due to the growing prices of crude oil in the global market, NIS said.
“A successful response to the challenges of the market was made possible due to the, first and foremost, the implementation of measures to increase operational efficiency: whose effect on the EBITDA indicator in the first quarter is reckoned to be 1.1 billion dinars," the CEO of NIS, Kirill Tyurdenev, said in the statement. "Further streamlining of operational efficiency remains in our focus in 2017. The completion of this programme, as well as the completion of strategic investment projects, will be a solid ground to pave the way of the entire development of NIS."
In the first quarter of 2017, NIS invested a total of 4.7 billion dinars, predominantly into the exploration and production, as well as into the refining, while liabilities in taxes and other public revenues rose by 8% on the year to 35.6 billion dinars.
The total volume of oil and gas production amounted to 343,000 equivalent tonnes, while in the first quarter 2017, as many as 765,000 thousand tonnes of oil and semi-finished products were refined. The total turnover has reached 714,000 tonnes, up 2% on the year.
The volume of sales in the retail market in Serbia increased by 3% year-on-year and amounted to 155,000 tonnes, while foreign assets turnover increased by 25% compared to last year. Electricity production at NIS facilities reached 46,076 MWh, up 15%.
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.
In 2016 the net profit of NIS rose by 3% to 15 billion dinars.
NIS shares gained 0.27% on the Belgrade Stock Exchange on Wednesday and closed at 735 dinars.
(1 euro=123.192 dinars)
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