Hyundai Oilbank doubles Q1 net profit

South Korea’s fourth-largest refiner Hyundai Oilbank said its first-quarter net profit more than doubled from a year ago on solid demand and strong margins. The refiner posted 289.4 billion won (US$259.44 million) net profit for January-March, up 107.6% from 139.4 billion won (US$124.97 million) in the same period last year. Sales also rose, gaining 29.9% year-on-year, to 3.13 trillion won (US$2.8 billion) compared with 2.41 trillion won (US$2.16 billion) a year earlier. But the company swung to an operating loss of 22.0 billion won (US$19.72 million) from an operating profit of 220.2 billion won (US$197.4 million) a year earlier due to losses on foreign exchange and derivatives. For the whole of 2009, Hyundai Oilbank recorded net profits of 222.1 billion won (US$199.11 million), recovering from a 254.1 billion won (US$227.79 million) net loss in the previous year, despite a drop in sales. (May 14, 2010)