StatoilHydro Q3 pretax beats consensus on currency gains UPDATE

StatoilHydro Q3 pretax beats consensus on currency gains UPDATE

	Published : Mon, 29 Oct 2007 08:26 By : Agencies Print this Story

(Updates with additional detail on performance, CEO comment)

OSLO (Thomson Financial) - StatoilHydro ASA posted third-quarter pretax profits that were ahead of expectations after benefiting from currency gains and other financial items, but at the operating level profits missed consensus estimates on lower downstream results.

For the third quarter the Norwegian oil giant posted pretax profits of 29.919 bln nkr, up from 27.844 bln last year, and ahead of the 29.097 bln consensus forecast of analysts polled by TDN Finans.

At the operating level, however, profits came in at 24.383 bln nkr, down from 30.168 bln last year and below the 26.580 bln consensus forecast.

StatoilHydro said the better-than-expected pretax result was 'mainly related' to currency gains, with total net financial items amounting to an income of 5.5 bln nkr during the third quarter, up from a cost of 2.3 bln last year.

'The increase was mainly due to currency gains relating to StatoilHydro's short-term Norwegian kroner hedging policy and long-term funding, as a result of a strengthening of the nkr in relation to the usd,' it said.

Third-quarter sales, meanwhile, rose to 109.482 bln nkr from last year's 108.191 bln, but fell below the 110.144 bln figure penciled in by analysts.

Average daily oil and gas production during the third quarter came in at 1.056 mln barrels of oil equivalent, down from 1.076 mln at the same point last year.

'The 2 pct decrease was mainly related to reduced production on the Norwegian continental shelf (NCS), and was partly offset by higher production from new fields in International E&P,' StatoilHydro said.

'We continue to deliver strong financial results, said chief executive Helge Lund.

'On 1 October we completed the merger between Statoil and Hydro's oil and gas activities... (and) I am very pleased to see that we have established a global, competitive energy company while delivering safe and efficient day-to-day operations.'

alastair.reed@thomson.com

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