Hungarian fuel operator MOL Group has reported a 43% decrease in EBTIDA in its Consumer Services division, incorporating its forecourt business, in the third quarter of its financial year.
The group said that fuel price regulatory measures in a number of CEE countries affected the performance of the segment, which saw a drop in EBITDA of $85 million (€85 million).
For the first three quarters of the year, EBITDA in the segment was down by more than half compared to the corresponding period the previous quarter.
Fresh Corner Openings
Non-fuel margin improvement and sales volume increase partly mitigated the negative drivers, MOL Group said in a statement, adding that the number of Fresh Corner sites that it operates rose to 1,130 in the quarter, up from 1,103 in Q2.
With regard to the rest of the business, MOL Group said that upstream EBITDA almost doubled year-on-year to $640 million (€641 million) in the third quarter, while downstream Clean CCS EBITDA increased year-on-year and reached $741 million (€742 million) in Q3, but decreased by 14% compared to the previous quarter.
'Uncertain Environment'
"While macro conditions evolved favourably for the oil and gas industry in the first nine month of the year, the uncertain external environment, the looming recession, the state interventions and windfall taxes cast uncertainty over the industry," commented chairman and chief executive Zsolt Hernádi.
"European sanctions seems to determine the economic future of Europe, the third quarter of 2022 proved to be very tight in terms of energy supply in the Central Eastern European region. So far we managed to maintain stable fuel supplies in several CEE countries, I consider it as our biggest achievement in this quarter thanks to the extraordinary efforts of MOL’s employees."
Read More: MOL Group's Peter Ratatics On The Future Of Fuel Retailing
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