Spanish oil group Cepsa's quarterly profit gushes 90 percent

MADRID - Cepsa, the second-largest Spanish oil company, said Friday its first-quarter net profit gushed 90 percent to 252 million euros (318 million dollars) from a year earlier, under the new IFRS accounting standards.
A "key factor" in its soaring earnings during the first three months of 2005 was a strong performance at its refining operations, Cepsa said in a statement.
Operating profit in the refinery and marketing division jumped 139 percent to 212 million euros, it said.
Cepsa's main shareholders are France's oil group Total and Spain's leading bank Banco Santander Central Hispano.
The biggest Spanish oil group, Repsa, reported first-quarter results Thursday showing a 37 percent rise in net profit to 845 million euros, boosted by refining operations.

05/13/2005 13:50 GMT