Saras reports drop in 2023 core profit ahead of Vitol's takeover (updated)
15/03/2024 15:44
(Recasts to add chairman's comments, background on Vitol's
deal)
By Francesca Landini
MILAN, March 15 (Reuters) - Saras SRS.MI on Friday
reported a 41% fall in its full-year comparable core earnings
due partly to weaker profitability of refined products, as
global commodity trader Vitol prepares to take over the Italian
oil refiner later this year.
Saras, which is controlled by Italy's Moratti family, said
its comparable earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and
amortisation (EBITDA) fell to 669.7 million euros ($730 million)
last year.
The company cited a drop in the "diesel crack", a metric
representing the profitability of refined products, to an
average of $26.4 per barrel from $37.7 per barrel in 2022, and
also a weaker dollar versus the euro.
Saras Group - founded 62 years ago by the father of its
current chairman Massimo Moratti - is the owner of Sarroch
plant in Sardinia, which is the single biggest refinery in the
Mediterranean with a capacity of 300,000 barrels per day.
The Moratti family agreed in February to sell 35% of the
company to Vitol at 1.75 euros per share, valuing the entire
group 1.7 billion euros.
Upon closing of the deal, the entire stake owned by the
Moratti family in Saras will be transferred to Vitol, triggering
a mandatory tender offer for the outstanding share capital of
the group, with the aim to delist it.
Massimo said on Friday that the decision to sell control to
Vitol "was a very difficult and emotional choice, but taken for
the good of the group".
($1 = 0.9187 euros)
(Additional reporting by Philippe Leroy Beaulieu; Editing by
Emelia Sithole-Matarise)
((Philippe.LeroyBeaulieu@thomsonreuters.com;))