PetroChina’s first-half profit flat at $10.3bn

PetroChina, the world’s second-most valuable oil and gas producer after Exxon Mobil, posted first-half net profit roughly level with last year as higher oil prices and strong production offset refining losses and costly natural gas imports. Unlike its peers CNOOC Ltd, which focuses on offshore upstream production, and Sinopec, which is China’s largest oil refiner, PetroChina has big operations in profitable upstream production and loss-making downstream refining businesses. Looking ahead, analysts said PetroChina’s second-half earnings would likely improve. PetroChina yesterday posted a net profit of 66bn yuan ($10.3bn) for the first half, up 1.03% from 65.33bn yuan a year earlier and roughly in line with a 68.33bn yuan estimate from nine analysts polled by Reuters. PetroChina, China’s largest oil producer, continued to increase oil and gas production domestically and overseas in the first half, benefiting from high crude oil prices that averaged around $110.5 per barrel for Brent crude. PetroChina’s total first-half crude oil output rose 5% on year to 446mn barrels, and natural gas output was up 5.3% to 1.19tn cu ft The company aims to produce 885.8mn barrels of crude oil this year, up 3.3% from the previous year, and full-year natural gas output is targeted at 2.45tn cu ft, up 10.4% on year, the company said.

GlencoreCommodities trader Glencore International warned of volatility ahead in its key markets but saw opportunities in the turbulence as demand remains strong, with resilient prices helping to boost its first-half profit by 50%. A robust outlook and a more modest than expected quarter-on-quarter drop in its closely watched marketing business—which trades commodities from grains to oil—comforted investors, who sent the stock up as much as 6%. Glencore has $10.4bn of cash, but the miner and trader has also said it will aim to keep a BBB credit rating. Glencore reported adjusted earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) of $3.3bn, in line with forecasts, while net income rose 57% to $2.45bn. Operating profit for Glencore’s whole trading or marketing division rose 45% year-on-year in the first half, but dipped 15% in the second quarter against the first, as an improved metals division struggled to make up for weaker earnings in energy products where volatility boosted arbitrage opportunities in the first three months of the year.

RaiffeisenAustria’s Raiffeisen Bank International (RBI) reported yesterday a 30% rise in first half net profit, citing a recovery in Eastern Europe and a merger at the bank last year. Net profit climbed 30.3% to €615mn ($889mn) in January-June from €472mn in the same period in 2010, RBI said in a statement. The corresponding figures for 2010 were calculated pro rata, taking into account the merger between Raiffeisen Zentralbank Oesterreich (RZB) and its publicly-listed unit Raiffeisen International (RI) last year, the bank noted. Pre-tax profit jumped 51.6% to €879mn, boosted essentially by Eastern Europe, RBI said. In the second quarter of the year, RBI’s profit more than doubled year-on-year to €345mn from €138mn last year. Looking ahead, RBI said it was considering a capital increase in the coming year.

Credit AgricoleFrench bank Credit Agricole defended its financial firepower in the face of what it called market irrationality about funding fears, lifting its battered stock by over 6%. “(There is) a lot of volatility, a lot of nervousness ... A lot of irrationality linked to perceptions of catastrophic situations,” chief executive Jean-Paul Chifflet said on a conference call to present second-quarter results. Quarterly earnings fell 10.6%, weighed by well-flagged one-off charges and losses at Greek unit Emporiki, but analysts said results were better than expected thanks to assets on the balance sheet that benefit from inflation. Credit Agricole said second-quarter net profit fell to €339mn, beating expectations of €193.3mn according to a Reuters poll of nine analysts.

AgBank Agricultural Bank of China said yesterday its first-half net profit soared 45.4% from a year earlier on the back of higher income from lending, fees and commissions. AgBank, China’s largest rural bank by assets, said net profit rose to 66.68bn yuan ($10.43bn) in the six-month period, from 45.86bn yuan last year, according to a statement to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. Analysts surveyed by Dow Jones Newswires had expected a net profit of 67.52bn yuan. The bank, which last year raised more than $22bn in one of the world’s largest-ever initial public offerings, said net interest income rose nearly 30% to 144.73bn yuan following a series of government rate hikes. Net fee and commission income soared 65.4% to 37.14bn yuan, it added.

AholdDutch grocer Ahold joined rivals struggling to pass on rising food costs to cash-strapped shoppers and posted a bigger-than-expected drop in second-quarter profit on Thursday. The group said it was accelerating its share buyback programme but this did not signal it had given up hope of making acquisitions. It underscored its growth ambitions by announcing plans to take its Dutch convenience store format into Germany next year. Ahold, which runs Dutch market leader Albert Heijn, said underlying operating income dropped 21% to €275mn in the 12 weeks to July 17, below a forecast for €309mn in a Reuters poll of analysts. Sales fell 3.5% to €6.87bn, slightly better than expected, and the group said it was growing market share in the US and Netherlands.

Hikma PharmaJordanian group Hikma Pharmaceuticals expects to resume normal business in Libya by the end of the year as the country becomes the latest in the region to recover from political turmoil. While first-half sales and profit were hit by political upheaval in the Middle East and North Africa, chief executive Said Darwazah told Reuters key markets were now recovering and Hikma was continuing to scour the region for acquisitions. The Amman-based company reported a 10.4% rise in first-half sales to $395mn, in line with forecasts. So-called organic sales growth, which excludes the recent acquisition of an injectable drugs business, was 3.2%. Earnings were down, as expected. Operating profit fell 34% to $49mn, reflecting lower margins due to loss of high-profit lines. That was equivalent to adjusted diluted earnings per share of 20.7 cents, down 23%.

DP WorldDP World’s first-half profit grew four-fold as it booked a gain from the sale of its Australian operations last year, and the port operator said its emerging market focus would help it deliver on full-year goals. The company, one of the more profitable assets of debt-laden Dubai World, said it was difficult to forecast global trade for the remaining part of the year despite being a historically stronger second half performer. DP World’s first half profit, including the sale, was $705mn compared with $177mn in the same period in 2010, it said in a statement. Excluding the gain from sale, profit stood at $246mn, a 50% increase compared with $164mn for the same period last year. Gross volumes in the first half of the year climbed to 26.2mn TEU or twenty-foot equivalent container units. First-half revenues increased 3% to $1.5bn. The company was well-positioned to meet its $3bn upcoming debt maturity in October 2012. It had $4.1bn in cash at the end of June 30, 2011.