Erste analysts said Monday, during an online conference, that the increase in oil price will be an advantage for oil companies in Central and Eastern Europe, with significant activity on the upstream segment (exploration and production), such as Petrom, MOL (Hungary) and INA (Croatia), but it will have a negative impact on downstream activities, such as refining, distribution and retail.
Erste thus set a target price of 0.5 lei (EUR0.115) for Petrom shares, compared to the current market price of RON0.42 on the Bucharest Stock Exchange.
However, Erste representatives added, a change in the forecast for Petrom would be premature at the moment. Erste anticipates a net profit of RON3.5 billion for Petrom this year.
Last year, the company posted a record net profit of RON3.7 billion.
OMV Petrom is 51%-owned by Austria’s OMV (OMV.VI). (EUR1=RON4.3514)