Hungarian oil and gas company MOL recorded a net loss in the fourth quarter of 2008 and announced a reduction in investments this year to maintain a low level of indebtedness and to mitigate the effects of the global financial crisis.
In the fourth quarter of 2008, MOL recorded a net loss of 33.31 billion forints (142.7 million dollars), following a net profit of 97.95 billion forints in the corresponding period of the previous year, the group announced. Analysts had expected a loss of 48.6 billion forints. Revenues in the last quarter of last year increased by eight percent to 852 billion forints. Operating profit decreased by 93 percent to 6.4 billion forints, taking into account the drop in oil prices. However, if the decline in prices is excluded, operating profit increased by 72 percent to 93.7 billion forints.
These results are a consequence of the movement in crude oil prices, which plummeted by 56 percent in the mentioned quarter, reducing the value of MOL’s inventories. The forint simultaneously lost 10 percent of its value against the dollar and nine percent against the euro, which increased the company’s indebtedness in foreign currency. “We have had an extremely difficult and complex year behind us, and the next one will not be any easier,” said CEO Gyorgy Mosonyi at a press conference.
