UPDATE 1-Czech Unipetrol expects lower one-off charge in Q2

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A charge on the sale of rubber making subsidiary Kaucuk will cut second-quarter operating profits at Czech oil group Unipetrol by 439 million crowns ($21.49 million), the company said on Thursday.

Unipetrol, a unit of Polish refiner PKN Orlen , said the impairment charge lowering its earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) would fall from the first quarter's 449 million crowns.

The statement contradicted comments on Wednesday by the head of investor relations at Unipetrol, Radek Nemecek, that the charge would be several hundred million crowns higher than in the first-quarter [ID:nL08745646].

Wednesday's news sent Unipetrol shares lower by more than 3 percent. The stock traded flat at 278.90 crowns by 1340 GMT on Thursday, rising 1.2 percent from just before the announcement of the lower charge and outperforming the falling market.

Nemecek told Reuters on Thursday the estimate from Wednesday was preliminary and the company had now specified the level of the expected one-off charge.

"In the evening (on Wednesday), accountants came up with new information and unfortunately, this also concerned the charge (on Kaucuk)," Nemecek said.

Based on the higher charge, analysts polled by Reuters expected Unipetrol to post a 19 percent rise in second-quarter net profit to 1.50 billion crowns against 1.26 billion in the second quarter last year [ID:nL09135889].

Unipetrol agreed to sell Kaucuk in January but closed the deal only in the middle of July. This has led the company to deduct Kaucuk's earnings from first-half results to prepare for not consolidating the unit into full-year numbers.

[PRAGUE/Reuters/Finance.cz]