OMV earnings bubble over
OMV managed to raise earnings and turnover in the first half of this year.The Vienna-headquartered oil and gas firm said today (Weds) turnover soared by 31 per cent to 11,015 billion Euros compared to the first six months of 2009. Analysts expected the companys turnover to increase by just 25 per cent year on year.The company one of the largest oil and gas firms in Europe also announced earnings before interest and taxes (Ebit) rose year on year by a whopping 170 per cent to 1.357 million Euros in the first half of 2010.OMV explained higher mineral oil price rates and the regaining strength of the US dollar compared to the Euro helped it to significantly improve business figures in the first two quarters of this year.”I think its fair to call our performance solid,” company chief Wolfgang Ruttenstorfer said.OMV currently has around 32,500 employees of which 26,700 work for its Romanian subsidiary Petrom. This means the company has lowered its staff numbers by around 13 per cent compared to 2009.The firms deputy general director Gerhard Roiss will succeed Ruttenstorfer as CEO next March. Ruttenstorfer a former Social Democratic (SPÖ) state secretary has been heading OMV since 2002 after 10 years as its CFO.