THE AFTER-TAX profit of the Slovnaft refinery grew by almost one fifth to Sk7.58 billion (Ř230 million) in 2007. This was the third biggest profit in the history of the company, the Hospodárske Noviny daily wrote.
The operating profit of Slovnaft rose 18 percent to Sk9.4 billion over the year. The refinery ascribes the sound results to a record amount of processed crude oil of 6 million tones, an increase in the production of polymers, and a high demand for plastics and motor fuels.
However sales of the company, which belongs to the Hungarian oil group MOL, shrank by 5 percent to Sk114.6 billion due to the firming Slovak crown, the ČTK newswire wrote citing data from the company's website. The Hungarian oil company, MOL controls 98.4 percent of Slovnaft.
Slovnaft increased its sale of refined products abroad, up 5.6 percent year-on-year. Exports were boosted particularly to markets in the Czech Republic, Poland, Austria and Germany. Sales in Slovakia rose 5 percent.
The sale of plastics grew by one tenth to 427,000 tons, especially on the German, Czech, Italian and Polish market
