KUALA LUMPUR: Petronas Chemicals Group Bhd
's earnings fell 42% to RM555mil in the second quarter ended June 30, 2014 from RM958mil a year ago due to challenging market conditions.
PetChem said on Monday the tougher market conditions were due to increased supply availability for aromatics, fertilisers and methanol, while ethylene derivatives were affected by softer demand.
"Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) was reduced by 23% or RM291mil to RM956mil, due to thinner product spreads in tandem with market conditions," it said on Monday.
PetChem's revenue dropped 13.7% to RM3.34bil from RM3.87bil. Earnings per share were seven sen. It declared an interim single tier dividend of eight sen per share, amounting to RM640mil to shareholders, payable on Sept 12.
For the first half ended June 30, 2014, its earnings fell 36.8% to RM1.3bil from RM2.06bil. Its revenue was down 14.1% to RM7.14bil from RM8.32bil.
