Showa Shell posts 69% drop in first-quarter income

Japanese refiner Showa Shell posted a 69.3% drop in net income, reaching JPY6.29 billion ($77.6 million) for the first quarter of 2012, compared to JPY20.47 billion (US$258.8 million) in the same period last year. The company’s operating income for the first quarter was also down by 63.6% to JPY14.16 billion (US$179.0 million) from JPY38.87 billion (US$491.4 million) in the same period in 2011. However, sales was up by 1.4%, reaching a total JPY700.73 billion (US$8.85 billion), compared to JPY691.25 billion (US$8.7 billion) in the first quarter of 2011. The company said it expects to earn JPY4 billion (US$50.5 million) from a projected sale of JPY1.3 trillion (US$16.43 billion) during the first six months of 2012, and an income of JPY11 billion (US$139 million) on a sales target of JPY2.65 trillion (US$33.5 billion) for the full year. If the company achieves its sales target, its year-on-year decline in income would be down to 52.4% and there will be a 5.1% drop in sales. However, Showa Shell’s oil business posted sales of JPY 684.8 billion (US$8.2 billion), 0.8% higher than a year ago. “Oil products sold well domestically due to aggressive sales activity for middle distillate products and the continued strong demand for power generation,” Showa Shell Sekiyu said in a public statement. (April 27, 2012)