Unipetrol released its H1 consolidated IAS results yesterday. Net profit reached CZK 0.63 bil. vs. CZK 1.25 bil. in H1 2001. But the market looks at the CAS results, and IAS figures are largely ignored. Interestingly, in a footnote to the results Unipetrol announced that the estimated flood damage including property losses and business interruptions exceeds CZK 1.6 bil. Insurance will cover up to 66% of the damage.
The estimated date for the start of production in Spolana (82% owned by Unipetrol) is October 2002.
The HN daily announced that CZK 1.1 bil. of the flood damage (of the total CZK 2 bil.) relates to Spolana. Unipetrol CEO P. Svarc estimated that additional expenditures at Spolana could climb a further CZK 0.5 bil. He reiterated that Unipetrol intends to request that the government help cover the damages in the case of Spolana through either a capital increase (highly unlikely) or a long-term guaranteed loan. He also said that Unipetrol will certainly post a net loss this year, though this is not surprising.
Jan Hajek, Jiri Soustruznik