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Omv Ag
7/31/2025
Welcome to the OMV results January to June and Q2 2025 conference call and webcast. After the speaker's presentation there will be a question and answer session. To ask a question during this session you will need to press star 1 1 on your telephone. You will then hear an automated message advising your hand is raised. To withdraw your question please press star 1 won again. Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded. At this time I would like to refer you to the disclaimer which includes our position on forward looking statements. These forward looking statements are based on beliefs, estimates and assumptions currently held by and information currently available to OMZ. By their nature, forward looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that will or may occur in the future and are outside the control of OMV. Therefore, recipients are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward looking statements. OMV disclaims any obligation and does not intend to update these forward looking statements to reflect actual results. revised assumptions and expectations, and future development and events. This presentation does not contain any recommendation or invitation to buy or sell securities in OMV. I would now like to hand the conference over to Mr. Florian Greger, Head of Investor Relations. Please go ahead, Mr. Greger.
Yes, thank you. Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to OMV's earnings call for the second quarter 2025. With me on the call are OMV CEO Alfred Stern and Reinhard Florey, our CFO. As always, Alfred will walk you through the highlights of the quarter and discuss OMV's financial performance. Following his presentation, both gentlemen are available to answer your questions. And with that, I'll hand it over to Alfred.
Thank you, Florian. Ladies and gentlemen, good morning and thank you for joining us. The second quarter of 2025 was marked by announcements of US tariffs. which weighed on global economic sentiment and triggered a broad-based sell-off across many asset classes, including oil. In early May, price prices dropped to their lowest levels in several years, briefly dipping below $60 per barrel. Recovery was limited by the accelerated OPEC Plus unwind ahead of the Israel-Iran hostilities in June, with print prices averaging $68 per barrel during the quarter. European gas prices also saw a sell-off in April. However, this was followed by a moderate recovery and then a more pronounced rally in June, averaging €36 per MWh, 16% above the same quarter of 2024. The refining indicator margin averaged $8.1 per barrel, thus higher than both the previous quarter and the same period last year, supported by global supply outages, rising geopolitical tensions in the Middle East, and weaker feedstock prices. European olefin indicator margins increased primarily due to lower feedstock costs and were further supported by both planned and unplanned outages, as well as the permanent closure of European crackers. Polyolefin indicator margins in Europe showed a mixed trend. While the polyethylene indicator margin improved, supported by lower feedstock costs, the polypropylene indicator margin declined. The overall economic environment remained challenging. Additionally, increased competition from lower-priced imports, particularly for commodity grades, continues to exert pressure. While specialty grades, which are less exposed to imports, have also faced soft demand and a difficult export environment, they have shown some resilience compared to commodity segments. Looking at the second quarter, our polypropylene sales volumes, including joint ventures, grew by 5% year-on-year, driven by a particularly strong increase in volumes sold by Borealis. Fuel sales volumes remained broadly stable. Hydrocarbon production was 10% down year on year, primarily related to the divestment of our Malaysian assets last year. The clean CCS operating result came in at around 1 billion euros, 16% below the prior year quarter and 11% lower than the first quarter of this year. Clean CCS earnings per share amounted to €1.18. Cash flow from operating activities reached almost €1.1 billion, only 8% below the prior year quarter. Before I go into the details of the second quarter financial results, let me give you a short update on OMV's strategic progress. I'm pleased to provide you with an update on the progress of Borussia Group International. We have achieved several key milestones in recent months. We have secured foreign direct investment approval in Austria, and we have also obtained merger control clearance in important jurisdictions, including the European Union and China. On the organizational side, discussions regarding recruitment for the post-closing executive board and executive leadership team roles are well underway. Several key positions are already in the advanced stages of evaluation, and we have engaged external advisors to ensure a robust and impartial selection process. Finally, I am pleased to report that active work streams between APNOC and OMV are focusing on planning for day one readiness and establishing the framework for realization of synergies. These collaborative efforts are essential to ensuring a smooth and successful integration. In the Black Sea, our Neptune Deep megaproject is progressing according to plan, on schedule, and within budget. In March, OMV Petrom started development drilling in the Pelican South field, while progressing with the fabrication of equipment and construction of the natural gas metering station. In addition, OMV Petrom continued its gas marketing activities. In the Han Asparu block, adjacent to the Neptune block, OMV Petrom has partnered with NewMed Energy in the exploration license, while maintaining its role as operator. The plan is to drill two exploration wells, with the first well scheduled to begin in the fourth quarter of this year. In chemicals, Borealis announced the investment of over 100 million euro in a new production line at its Burghausen site in Germany to triple the output of innovative, fully recyclable, double high melt strength polypropylene foam. Developed at the Borealis Innovation Headquarters in Austria, this lightweight and durable material supports circular solutions in automotive, consumer goods, and construction sectors. It will help increase the share of specialty products which command higher margins. The startup is planned for the second half of 2026. In fuels and feedstock, we announced the final decision to invest a mid-three-digit million euro figure in a new flagship green hydrogen plant in Austria. With an annual production capacity of up to 140 megawatts of green hydrogen, the new plant will be among the largest in Europe. Scheduled to start up at the end of 2027, the facility will use renewable energy from wind, solar, and hydropower to produce green hydrogen, which will be used solely at our Schwechat refinery. This new electrolyzer project will leverage the expertise gained from our new 10 megawatt electrolyzer facility that started operations in April this year. OMV expects to reduce CO2 emissions by approximately 150,000 tons per year. This reduction will lower the cost of CO2 certificates and will ensure OMV's compliance with the targets set by the European Renewable Energy Directive. In energy, OMV Pekrom expanded its regional presence by acquiring a 50% stake in the Gabare solar project, one of Bulgaria's largest photovoltaic initiatives. The solar park will have an installed capacity of approximately 400 megawatts. The final investment decision is expected by the end of 2025. with commercial operations targeted for 2027. The partners plan to invest around 200 million euros in the project, including external financing. OMV Petrom has already secured 2.4 terawatt hours per year of prospective power production capacity by 2030, in line with the strategy 2030. Let me now discuss the performance of our business segments in the second quarter of this year. Compared to the second quarter of 2024, the clean operating result of chemicals increased to 200 million euros, supported by the stop of Borealis depreciation, improved olefin indicator margins, and substantially higher sales volumes. In our European business, we recorded positive market effects of 75 million euros, attributable to rising olefin and polyethylene indicator margins. However, due to declining feedstock prices, inventory effects were significantly negative, weighing on the result by 57 million euros compared with the second quarter of 2024. The utilization rate of our European crackers was 82%. thus at a similar level to the prior year quarter. While lower rates at Stenungsund and Porwo impacted last year's figures, this year's second quarter was affected by the planned CDU shutdown in Burghausen and turnarounds at some of our customers' facilities. The contribution of Borealis, excluding trend ventures, increased by €72 million, supported by the stop of depreciation, while both the base chemicals and polyolefins contribution decreased. The base chemicals result was affected by a significantly lower light feedstock advantage, more negative inventory effects, and weaker realized margins. The polyolefin contribution was impacted by substantially negative inventory effects, partly compensated for by higher sales volumes and higher realized margins in specialty products. Polyolefin sales volumes of Borealis, excluding joint ventures, rose by 17% due to a significant increase in consumer products, energy, and infrastructure, and was supported by pre-sales activities ahead of the SAP migration in July. sales volumes in mobility and healthcare remained flat. The realized margin for specialty products increased significantly, driven by both higher unit margins and volumes, while the realized margin for standard products declined. Additionally, a portion of the volumes sold was supplied by Borrush and Baystar, for which Borealis only receives a sales commission. The contribution of the JVs declined slightly to 41 million euros. Due to the accounting effect of the reclassification, only the Porouge contribution is now included in the operating result, as Baystar is no longer consolidated as of March. The Porouge results declined compared to the second quarter of 2024 due to lower sales volumes impacted by by the planned turnaround at Boruche III and sluggish demand in Asia. The clean CCS operating result of fuel and feedstock declined by 21% to 242 million euros, impacted by planned refinery shutdowns, a lower contribution from APNOC refining and trading, and higher utility costs. The European refining indicator margin rose by 15% to $8.1 per barrel. This was partially offset by the lower refining utilization rate, which declined by six percentage points to 83% because of planned turnarounds at the Burghausen and Petrobras refineries. The contribution of the market in business increased compared to the second quarter of 2024. The retail performance was better, driven by higher fuel margins and increased sales volumes following the acquisition of retail stations in Austria and Slovakia in 2024. The result of the commercial business was similar to the second quarter of last year. A strong aviation business was offset by lower contribution from other products. The contribution of AdNoc refining and global trading was zero. The decrease compared with the previous year quarter was mainly due to weaker operational performance and lower trading results. The clean operating result of the energy segment declined by 28% to 588 million euros, primarily due to significantly lower oil prices and the negative impact of the euro-dollar exchange rate development. This was only partially offset by higher gas prices and a net positive impact from litigation outcomes in Romania. The realized oil price fell by 19% to $66 per barrel, in line with the Brent price development. In contrast, the realized gas price increased by 25% to 29 euros per megawatt hour, outperforming the rise in European benchmark prices. The unfavorable exchange rates development weighed on the result by around 50 million euros compared with the prior year quarter. Production volumes declined by 10%, mainly due to the divestment of the Malaysian assets, which contributed around 26,000 POE per day in the second quarter of 2024. Production was impacted by plant maintenance and natural decline in Romania, as well as lower well deliverability and natural decline in New Zealand. These effects were partly offset by higher output in Libya and Norway. Unit production costs increased to $10.9 per barrel because of lower production volumes. However, absolute cost decreased. sales volumes declined by 14%. In addition to lower production, the sales volumes in Norway and Libya decreased due to the lifting schedule. The result of gas marketing and power reduced by minus 6 million euros, driven by weaker supply margins and lower realized premium in gas sales to industrial customers in gas west. Gas east delivered a better result, stemming from both the gas and power business lines. This was driven by higher gas sales volumes, increased output of the Plas power plant, and favorable market price developments. The power business continues to be affected by the regulations introduced by the Romanian government in April 2024, although the impact was less significant in the prior year quarter. These power regulations have expired in June 2025. However, the gas regulations will remain in effect until the end of March 2026. Turning to cash flows. Our second quarter operating cash flow, excluding net working capital effects, was 831 million euros, only slightly below the second quarter of 2024, as a significant negative impact of lower oil prices was partially offset by reduced income tax payments. The prior year period also included solidarity contribution payments in Romania. Networking capital effects in the quarter were positive and amounted to around 250 million euros. We received dividends, including Porouge and Pearl Petroleum, in the quarter, totaling 213 million euros. As a result, cash flow from operating activities amounted to around 1.1 billion euros, only 8% lower than in the second quarter of 2024. As part of investing cash flow, we recorded a significant cash inflow of around 1.1 billion euros in the second quarter. This includes 457 million euros from the divestment of our 5% stake in the Kasha concession in the UAE and a 656 million euro loan repayment from PayPort in the U.S. As usual, the second quarter reflects the payment of our annual dividends, along with dividends to manuality shareholders in OMV Petrom and Porealis, resulting in negative free cash flow for the quarter. Looking at the half-year picture, cash flow from operating activities came in at 2.4 billion euros, representing a decrease of 19% compared to the first half of 2024, reflecting weaker oil prices and lower dividends received, partially compensated for by a lower income tax paid and the solidarity contribution paid in 2024. Organic cash flow from investing activities in the first half year was around 1.8 billion euros related to ordinary ongoing business investments and major growth projects such as Neptune Deep, the BDH plant in Belgium, the SAS HVO plant in Romania, and the green hydrogen plants in Austria. Pre-cash flow before dividends in the first half of 2025 was 8% higher than in the same period of last year. Our balance sheet remained very strong. Proceeds from the divestment of our stake in GASHA concession and the pay port loan repayment were able to compensate for the high cash outflow related to the annual dividends. As a result, the leverage ratio remained stable at 12%. At the end of June, OMV had a cash position of 6 billion euros and 4.2 billion euros in undrawn committed credit facilities. Let me conclude with an updated outlook for this year. We maintain our full year forecast for the average print price of around $70 per barrel. We now expect the average DHE price to be around 40 euros per megawatt hour, while the realized gas price is projected to be between 30 and 35 euros per megawatt hour. In the chemicals market, some of the European indicator margins were stronger than expected in the first half of the year. Although demand remained subdued, major margins benefited from lower feedstock costs and capacity closures at European crackers. We remain cautious for the second half of the year as demand is not expected to show significant improvement and the potential impact of tariff implementation on the market remains uncertain. Considering developments in the first half year, we are increasing our outlook for the European olefin indicator margins to above the previously assumed values of €520 per tonne for ethylene and above €385 per tonne for propylene. For polyolefins, we expect the polyethylene indicator margin to be significantly above 400 euros per ton, and the polypropylene indicator margin to be around 400 euros per ton. Borealis was able to grow volume significantly in the first half of 2025, and we expect this positive trend to continue. As a result, we are raising our full-year outlook for Borealis sales volumes by 200,000 tons to around 4.3 million tons. In fuels and feedstock, the refining indicator margin improved significantly in the second quarter, driven by the strength of motor gasoline crack spreads. The start of the third quarter has also been encouraging. As a result, we are upgrading the full-year outlook from $6 to over $7 per barrel. Finally, we would like to inform you about changes in the Norwegian tax payment schedule. As of August, tax payments in Norway will be spread over 10 installments per year, replacing the previous schedule of six installments. Tax payments will be made each month with the exception of January and July. All other full year assumptions for the group remain unchanged. Now, thank you for your attention and Reinhard and I will now be happy to take your questions.
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