In the 9m 2019, INA recorded an increase in net sales revenue of 2% YoY, decrease in EBITDA of 18% and a decrease in net profit of 36%.

In the first nine months of 2019, INA recorded net sales revenue of HRK 16.55bn, representing an increase of 2% YoY. The mentioned increase came mainly due to the higher wholesale on captive market and retail volumes on domestic and Montenegro market.

Costs of raw materials and consumables amounted to HRK 5.2 bn (-38% YoY), resulting mainly from lower processing triggered by Rijeka Refinery turnaround. Meanwhile, costs of other goods sold recorded an increase of 116%, amounting to HRK 6.2bn, resulting from higher import of goods to meet market demand.

During the first nine months of 2019, oil prices followed a different path compared to the same period last year; the average oil prices decreased somewhat, therefore reported EBITDA fell sharply by HRK 477m (-18% YoY), amounting to HRK 2.2bn. Meanwhile, CCS EBITDA excluding special items amounted to HRK 2.39bn, which represents an increase of 8%. The main driver of CCS EBITDA excluding special items was better sales performance, utilizing market conditions and improved Rijeka Refinery white product yields as well as improving consumer services performance. Higher retail volumes by 3% resulted from better performance in Croatia and network expansion in Montenegro.

Going further down the P&L, net profit amounted HRK 679m, which represents a sharp decrease of 36% YoY. Such a decrease could be mostly attributed to the above-mentioned decrease in average oil prices.

INA Performance (9m 2018 vs 9m 2019) (HRK bn)

In the same period, CAPEX was mainly driven by refining investments and amounted to HRK 1,54bn (+69% YoY). Of that, domestic CAPEX accounts for 85.6%. During this period, Rijeka refinery turnaround was completed, as one of the largest ones in the company’s history. The company notes that many improvements implemented during this turnaround are already visible in the better production structure, with higher share of profitable white products.

Turning our attention to exploration and production, the increased level of Upstream activities in Egypt is starting to give results with a 23% increase of oil production in Egypt. This, together with the continuous workover activities in Croatia, currently stabilized the hydrocarbon production, which amounted to 34,507 boe/d. Meanwhile, Downstream sales stayed stable at more than 3.1m tonnes.