* EBIT turns positive for first time in year
* Sees stabilising refinery margins after segment hit hit Q3
* Shares fall 1.4 percent
(Adds shares, background)
By Jan Korselt
PRAGUE, Nov 13 (Reuters) - Czech downstream oil group
Unipetrol <> posted a fourth consecutive quarterly loss
on Friday, hit by low refining margins, and it forecast slightly
worse petrochemical margins at the end of 2009.
The company, 63 percent owned by Poland's PKN Orlen
<PKNA.WA>, has battled a deep recession in central Europe that
has cut demand for its refined products.
The refinery segment suffered from a narrowing price spread
between Brent and Ural crude, which dragged down third-quarter
results.
Unipetrol posted a 35 million crown ($2.06 million) loss, a
touch wider than the average analyst estimate of 20 million
crowns in a Reuters poll.
Shares in Unipetrol fell 1.4 percent to 141 crowns by midday
compared with a 0.4 percent drop in the wider Prague stock market
index <>.
For the quarter, operating profit (EBIT) was positive for
the first time in a year, coming in at 5 million crowns and
helped by strong retail sales and improved petrochemical sales.
Overall revenue fell 37 percent to 18.73 billion crowns,
lagging estimates of 19.13 billion.
Chief Financial Officer Wojciech Ostrowski said refining
margins have stabilised in the current quarter although
petrochemical margins were down slightly.
"We could say that in the third quarter the recovery
started, but (in the fourth quarter) it has not been as quick as
in the third quarter," he said.
"(In the current quarter) the trends will probably be
similar: good retail, not bad petrochemical, not so good
refinery. But maybe this difference between petrochemical and
refinery will be lower."
Ostrowski said the company was hopeful it would report
another operating profit next quarter.
The company said last month in a trading statement that it
expected a better operating result compared with a 271 million
loss in the second quarter.
Unipetrol reiterated it was interested in increasing its
51-percent stake in refinery unit Ceska Rafinerska, but only if
Royal Dutch Shell <RDSa.L> decides to sell its 16.3 percent
stake at a price corresponding to its expected financial
performance.
Unipetrol shares have dipped 4.6 percent this year,
underperforming a 36.2 percent rise in Prague's index <>.
PKN Orlen, Poland's leading refiner, said earlier on Friday
its third-quarter net profit jumped above market estimates,
driven by one-off gains on inventories and loan adjustments.
[]
(Additional reporting by Jason Hovet; Editing by Michael Kahn
and David Cowell)
