Rompetrol pays first yearly bond interest

Rompetrol Rafinare (Petromidia), the main member of Rompetrol group, produced a turnover of 822 million dollars in the first eight months of this year, 26% higher than for the corresponding period last year, announced Dinu Patriciu, chairman of Rompetrol group. He stated the company had also made the annual interest payment of about 25 million dollars linked to the bond issue worth 603 million dollars launched last year through the conversion of debts and related penalties and late charges to the state budget. At the same time, operating income before amortisation and financial expenditures reached 32 million dollars. “The 915.5 billion ROL, accounting for interest from the first year after the bond issue, has been paid from Rompetrol Rafinare’s own funds,” Patriciu specified. In October last year, the Government endorsed an ordinance allowing Rompetrol Rafinare-Complex Petromidia to wipe out its historical debt to the state budget, interest and penalties inclusive, by issuing bonds due in seven years. The company will pay about 25 million dollars in yearly interest until 2010, when the bonds will be converted to shares, for which Rompetrol will have first option. ZF