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What goes on in Poland on the 30th of April.
Records of diversification and finish of EFRA in Lotos
Despite the difficult macroeconomic environment, Lotos recorded stable results in the first quarter of 2018. Diversification indicators are growing, reaching already nearly 40 percent.
Mateusz Bonca, president of Grupa Lotos, said the results are good and in line with the 2016 strategy. – We are pleased with a significant decline in debt. The years 2017 and 2018 are to be a period of stabilization and this is what is happening – he said. Jarosław Kawula pointed out that this is due to the more difficult macroeconomic environment, such as the rising value of the dollar and lower margins due to higher prices of oil.
In the first quarter of this year the operating result (EBIT) of Lotos Group amounted to PLN 448 million, and cleared of the impact of one-off events of EBITDA (operating result plus depreciation), calculated according to the LIFO methodology, amounted to PLN 540 million. In comparison to the previous quarter, the company’s debt fell by nearly a quarter billion zlotys.
Revenues from sales amounted to PLN 6,3 billion and net profit: PLN 321 million. Purified LIFO EBITDA profit: PLN 540 million. The production of crude oil and natural gas amounted to 1,97 million boe. Sales of products in the segment of production and trade amounted to 2,
8 million tons.
The results of the Lotos Group in the first quarter of 2018 were influenced primarily by the level of the refining margin model, which was lower by approx. 13 percent y/y. In this period, there was also a significant drop in crack crack for heavy heating oil (-65 percent) and the weakening of one of the key product cracks on gasoline (-16 percent). – In addition, the US dollar’s performance was negatively affected by the decline in the US dollar exchange rate, which had an additional negative impact on the operating result, lowering the trade margins realized within the production and trade segment – it was emphasized in the communiqué.
Juncker’s plan will launch investments worth 284 billion euros
The European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI), created in the wake of the global financial crisis, collected EUR 284 billion. On Tuesday April 24, EU officials announced that nearly one-third of this money (28 percent) would go to support SMEs in Europe. About 22 percent will support research, development and innovation development, and another 22 percent will be transferred to energy-related projects.
The European Commission under the leadership of Jean-Claude Juncker, shortly after taking office in November 2014, presented the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI). The Fund was primarily a response to the economic slowdown in Europe, related to the global economic and financial crisis, which resulted in a decrease in investment in the European Union by around 15 percent compared to 2007.
The aim of the plan is to stimulate investments in the European research and development sector, increase involvement in the creation of broadly understood infrastructure, increase competitiveness, increase the number of jobs and economic recovery in the sector of small and medium enterprises, by providing additional guarantees, especially for activities with high-risk projects that could not count on support from commercial banks.
