2023-07-28 09:47:15
Cepsa has registered a negative net result of 393 million in the first half of the year, compared to the profits of more than 841 million that it obtained in the same period of 2022. The company attributes these numbers to the fall in the price of oil and over all due to the impact that the new extraordinary tax imposed by the Government on energy companies has had on their accounts.
As regards the adjusted net result, which specifically measures the performance of the businesses, represents a profit of 145 million euros in the first half of the year, which represents a drop of 69% compared to the 463 million euros for the same period of the previous year.
The company has had to pay 320 million euros for the tax that is levied on 1.2% of the sales of companies in the sector in 2022 whose income exceeded 1,000 million per year. The group’s CEO, Maarten Wetselaar, points out that the first semester “has been affected by a poorly designed extraordinary tax that has a significant impact on our results and on cash generation, in a context in which Cepsa is carrying out a deep transformation, going from being a traditional oil and gas company to a company at the forefront of the European energy transition.
The energy group recalls that its tax contribution in Spain reached 2,185 million euros in the first semester -of which 1,265 million were borne by the company and 920 million collected on behalf of the Public Treasury-. And he already announced at the beginning of the year his decision to appeal this special tribute. Also, remember that they are the second company in the sector that contributes the most for this tax.
The group’s adjusted gross operating result (Ebitda) stood at 742 million euros in the first half, compared to 1,742 million euros in the same period last year, due to lower volumes in the Exploration and Production business after the sale of the assets in Abu Dhabi and this decrease in the prices of crude oil, with an average of 78.4 dollars per barrel, compared to 81.3 dollars in the first three months of this year, and of natural gas, with an average of 35.1 euros per megawatt hour (MWh) -compared to 54.1 euros/MWh in the period from January to March-. A year ago now, crude oil was trading above 120 dollars, 50% more than the average levels of this year.
For its part, the energy company’s refining margins remained at good levels, although lower than those of the first half of a year ago, falling to 7.6 dollars per barrel in the second, compared to 11.0 dollars in the first quarter of this fiscal year.
Cepsa highlighted that its three business areas -Energy, Chemicals and Exploration and Production- demonstrated resilience in a second quarter of the year marked by a difficult market environment, with lower crude prices and declining refining margins, although still in a good range.
The Energy area registered an adjusted Ebitda in the period of 114 million euros, with a performance of the Energy Parks business slightly lower than in the previous quarter, due to lower margins, while the results of Chemicals were in line with the first quarter of 2023, with an adjusted Ebitda of 60 million euros.
Meanwhile, Exploration and Production, after the change of perimeter after the sale of the Abu Dhabi assets, was impacted on its results and operations, its adjusted Ebitda falling to 58 million euros in the period.
Meanwhile, sustainable investments represented 39% of a total of 276 million euros in the first half of the year, compared to 218 million in the first half of 2022, supporting the progress of the ‘Cepsa Positive Motion’ strategy.
In this regard, the multi-energy company has made progress in its strategy in the period, announcing the construction of the largest green ammonia plant in Europe, with a total investment of 1,000 million euros, and sealing new alliances with Yara Clean Ammonia and Gasunie to connect the southern and northern Europe with green hydrogen.
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