02.09.15. Rubis posted net income of €80 million for the six months to 30 June. This represented an increase of 54 percent (30 percent on a like-for-like basis).
The first half of 2015 was characterised by growth of 18 percent in total business volume (7 percent like-for-like).
The results were driven by Rubis Energie (distribution of petroleum products), which enjoyed a 20 percent increase in volumes (6 percent like-for-like) on the back of the return to “normal” weather conditions, a significant increase in the unit margin (+16 percent), favourable currency effects and the results of restructuring undertaken in South Africa and the Jamaica-Bahamas sub-region.
In total, Rubis Energie’s EBIT grew by 115 percent (+74 percent like-for-like, excluding Portugal, and +58 percent at constant scope and exchange rates).
Support and Services, which now houses the refining (SARA) and logistics supply (shipping and trading) businesses, reported EBIT of €16 million, with a stable contribution from SARA and a decline in the contribution of the trading business in the wake of the “exceptional” performance logged in 2014.
Rubis Terminal posted a 20 percent decline in EBIT largely resulting from the bankruptcy of a heavy oil customer at its Rotterdam site at the end of 2014 and a shortfall in chemicals in France. Adding in the contribution to EBIT of equity associates (Antwerp and Delta Rubis in Turkey), and excluding one-off items, Rubis Terminal’s revenues increased by 3 percent. Delta Rubis enjoyed rapid growth from intense oil activity from Kurdistan.
In the second half the group stands to benefit from changes in scope: SARA (Martinique), the Eres Group (distribution of bitumen and fuel oil in West Africa) and SRPP (Reunion Island). “These factors allow the group to be confident as regards its earnings growth in the second half,” said a Rubis statement.
