Neste Finland to cut 600 jobs due to quarterly profits slumping

Neste, a Finnish biofuel and oil refiner, announced on Thursday that it would cut 600 jobs after its core profit for the fourth quarter fell below expectations.

Heikki malinen, CEO of Heikki Group, said that "our current financial performance is not sustainable".

The Finnish group has cut its forecast for the margin of sales from renewable fuels three times by 2024 due to the falling prices, which are a result of weak demand and an oversupply.

In a poll conducted by the company, analysts estimated that EBITDA for the company in its fourth quarter would be 308 million euro.

Neste expects to sell more renewable products in 2025 than it did in 2024 when it sold 3.7 million tonnes. However, it didn't give a specific range.

The company announced that it will delay the start of commercial operations at its renewable refinery located in Rotterdam in the Netherlands. It said that the total investment costs had increased to 2.5 billion euro from 1.9 billion euro.

The company was forced to shut down the Rotterdam refinery temporarily in November due to an accident. This would have affected the deliveries of renewable diesel over several weeks.

Neste announced a dividend of 0.20 euros per share in 2024. This is down from the 1.20 euros it paid out a year earlier. $1 = 0.9586 euro (Reporting and editing by Mrigank Dahniwala in Gdansk)

(source: Reuters)