Hellenic Petroleum Posts Q4 Net Loss
Hellenic Petroleum, Greece's biggest oil refiner, posted on Thursday a net loss of 60 million euros ($66.05 million) for the fourth quarter, hurt by plunging oil prices.
The figure, which compares with a net loss of 227 million euros in the same period in 2014, was above analysts' average forecast for a net loss of 11.8 million euros in a Reuters poll.
A plunge in oil prices in the fourth quarter last year hurt the refiner's oil inventories more than expected.
Core profit or clean EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation), stripping out inventory-holding losses, rose 8 percent to 184 million euros, helped by higher refining margins and a favourable euro exchange rate to the dollar.
Hellenic Petroleum last month agreed to restart buying crude oil from Iran after sanctions were lifted and a company executive told Reuters on Thursday that the first Iranian crude oil shipment will arrive next month.
(Reporting by Angeliki Koutantou)
