Petrom could disburse 206 million euros in dividends

Petrom announced yesterday that it might resume granting dividends to shareholders, with the amount proposed for 2005 being 738 million RON (some 210 million euros), after the company posted a 1.416 billion RON (319 million euro) net profit for the previous year.

According to the financial report of the company sent to the Bucharest Stock Exchange yesterday, the value of the dividends is to be submitted to shareholders” approval in April. The dividend per share should therefore stand at 0.013 RON.

The company did not disburse any dividends for 2004 because it ended the financial year with a 974 million RON loss.

Petrom went through a capital restructuring period in 2005.

The biggest petroleum company in Romania posted a 10.7 billion RON (2.97 billion euro) turnover and a net profit of 1.416 billion RON in 2005.

According to the report, turnover went up by 24% “mainly because of a favourable price environment.” At the same time, company officials say that results were influenced “especially by the special elements worth 769 million RON,” without providing further details.

Petrom”s financial profit improved by 17% as a result of the gains generated by the revenues from interests and the significant reduction in the interest spending, due to the repayment of loans in full in 2005.

Petrom invested 1.1 billion RON (some 310 million euros) in three foreign investment funds, which account for part of the capital contributed by the Austrian OMV Group when it took over the Romanian company, Petrom”s deputy chief executive Werner Schinhan says.

“It was about internationally known funds from Germany and Austria, which got us a 1.5-2% higher interest than on the market,” Schinhan said.

He added the respective placements warranted the capital 95%.

Inquired about the names of the three funds, Schinhan said that one was managed by Raiffeisen, and the other by Allianz-Dresdner.

The company drilled 77.95 million barrels-of-oil-equivalent last year, 4% less than in 2004, mainly because of the interruptions in electricity supplying due to the heavy floods last summer.

Most of the crude extracted, 96%, was delivered to Petrom refineries, and the average price achieved by the company in 2005 was 49.43 dollars per barrel.

Petrom”s distribution network at the end of 2005 comprised 553 operational filling stations, 35 fewer than in 2004, as 50 stations that were not making profit were closed and 15 new stations were built.

According to the estimates of the company, the market share on this sector amounted to 24%.

The main Petrom shareholder is the Austrian OMV Group, 51.011%, followed by the Ministry of Economy and Trade, 40.7% and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) – 2.026%. Several thousand individual and corporate investors own 6.214%.

OMV will invest some 600 million euros in modernising Petrom in each of the next few years, a press release from the Austrian group discloses.