Warsaw (Puls Biznesu) – PGNiG’s results were better than expected thanks to strong winter and the gas crisis in Ukraine.
PGNiG, Poalnd’s listed gas monopoly, had PLN 620m (EUR 159.9m) of net income in the first quarter, or 14 percent more than a year ago. Analysts’ average estimate amounted to PLN 593m. The stock rose on Tuesday although the market decreased. However, while sales grew by nearly 35 percent to PLN 5.1 billion, the operating income dropped 24.5 percent to PLN 792m.
“These are good results. You must remember that in April last year the transmission assets were divided, which makes the results hard to compare. This caused smaller operating income”, Andrzej Paslawski, BDM PKO BP analyst said.
He pointed out that due to the Ukrainian gas crisis at the beginning of the year, PGNiG sold much more Polish gas while the Russian gas brings smaller margin of profit.
“That’s why despite falling operating income, it is still better than expected”, BDM PKO BP analyst added.
(PLN 1 = EUR 0.258)