Newsgroup: it.economia.borsa
Titolo: Trimestrali ENI E TFE

Total and Eni Struggle to Keep Pace as Euro Gains (Update2)
By Jad Mouawad
Paris, May 5 (Bloomberg) -- Total Fina Elf SA and Eni SpA, two of Europe's
four largest oil companies, are struggling to match the profit growth of
bigger rivals BP Plc and Royal Dutch/Shell Group as a rally in the euro
hurts earnings.
Total, the third-largest European oil company, on Tuesday is expected by
analysts to say first-quarter net income rose 45 percent. Eni, No. 4 in
Europe, is expected to post a 21 percent increase in profit on Friday. Shell
and BP, which are worth more than twice as much as Eni, last week said
first-quarter profit more than doubled. BP and Shell report results in U.S.
dollars.
A surge in oil prices to 12-year highs led Exxon Mobil Corp., Shell and BP
to report record earnings totaling $16 billion, while Total and Eni are
suffering from the euro's 25 percent advance in the past year. A stronger
euro reduces the profit from dollar- based oil sales.
Total and Eni are ``much more reactive to a movement in the dollar currency
than to oil-price variations,'' said Valerie Cazaban, who helps manage about
170 million euros ($190 million), including Total shares, at Stratege
Finance. ``Obviously, they had gained in the past when the euro was
falling.''
Total and Eni transact business in dollars and report earnings in euros. A
10 percent rally in the euro lowers earnings expectations by around 8
percent, Merrill Lynch & Co. analysts wrote about Total in a note to
investors on April 30.
Records
The European companies still are benefiting from oil prices that neared $40
a barrel in the first quarter in New York. Total will probably report that
net income before one-time items rose to 2.06 billion euros from 1.42
billion euros a year earlier, according to seven analysts surveyed by
Bloomberg News.
Eni is expected to say first-quarter earnings rose to 1.68 billion euros
from an estimated 1.38 billion euros last year, according to analysts at
Citigroup Inc.'s Smith Barney brokerage and research unit.
On Friday, Shell said first-quarter net income more than doubled to $5.33
billion, capping a week of record industry profits. The company last year
pumped oil and gas equal to 4 million barrels of oil a day. Total produced
2.6 million barrels, and Eni's output equaled 1.47 million barrels a day.
Margins
Exxon Mobil, the world's largest publicly traded oil company, said
first-quarter profit tripled to $7.04 billion. BP, the world's third-largest
publicly traded oil company, said profit soared to a record $3.47 billion
from $854 million a year earlier.
Oil prices advanced on concern a war in Iraq would disrupt supplies from the
Persian Gulf and as refining margins widened. That boosted profitability
from pumping oil and making fuels.
Crude oil in New York averaged $33.75 a barrel in the first quarter,
compared with $21.59 in the same period a year earlier. Oil prices have
fallen by about a third since February, signaling earnings are poised to
slide, analysts said.
Total shares rose 1.1 percent to 122.8 euros in Paris today. Eni shares
climbed 1.4 percent to 13.06 euros in Milan.
Since the beginning of the year, Total shares have dropped 10 percent on the
Paris stock exchange, while Eni shed 14 percent in Milan. BP has slid 5
percent in London and Shell Transport & Trading Co., which owns 40 percent
of the Shell group, has lost 6 percent.
Last Updated: May 5, 2003 12:22 EDT
--
- Jerry Senfield -
jsenfie...@NOSPAMtin.it

 Total and Eni Struggle to Keep Pace as Euro Gains (Update2)
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