Page 7 - Sample PRO weekly report Poland

Czech oil group Unipetrol confirms plan for raised dividend
project - it would not make many of the losses up. Still, Kyiv signed off on a preliminary deal that could hand Slovakia’s Eustream the use of parts of its dilapidated network earlier this month.
Still, although the EU remains a keen supporter of Kyiv in its stand off with Moscow, it is also clearly tiring of the lack of reform in Ukraine, of which the massive corruption in the gas industry is a prime emblem. The EBRD warned earlier this month that the possible collapse of the country’s energy sector reform could “shatter international confidence” in the current government in Kyiv.
Unipetrol confirmed its proposal to pay a CZK8.3 dividend from 2016 profit on April 27, as the Czech refiner and petrochemicals group announced first quarter results for 2017 in line with expectations.
The dividend payment is higher than the CZK5.52 paid on 2015 earnings. That was the company’s first payout since 2007, after high refining margins helped it post a profit for the first time in five years in 2015. However, the size of the dividend angered minorities, in particular Slovak financial group J&T, which has been waging a bitter war with PKN Orlen since the Polish state-controlled giant took a 63% stake in Unipetrol in 2004.
“The announcement of the dividend proposal should be a positive signal for the market; nevertheless, we had expected a higher payment in our projections,” write analysts at J&T Bank, a unit owned by the disgruntled shareholder. “Unipetrol is in a situation when it can afford it.”
The dividend implies a gross dividend yield of 3.2%. The payout must now be approved by shareholders at the company’s general meeting, which took place in June last year.
After a net loss CZK25mn in 2016, net profit surged to CZK 2.8bn in the first quarter of 2017. Revenues grew by 69% year-on-year to CZK29.9bn on the back of higher petrochemical volumes and higher oil prices.
EBITDA rose 610% to CZK4bn, which met market expectations. Unipetrol booked a payment of CZK1bn from insurance companies, which boosted the result. Both the upstream and downstream segments recorded strong gains in EBITDA LIFO, to leave the profit indicator at CZK3.6bn, vs CZK350m in 2016.
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