MOL Group Cash Flow Remains Positive

Hungary's MOL Group announced its financial results for the first half and second quarter of 2020. In the first six months, the Group delivered USD 975 mn EBITDA while Q2 EBITDA significantly declined compared to last year, due to the pandemic and economic crisis.

The 2020 capex guidance of up to USD 1.5 bn was confirmed, implying sustained simplified free cash-flow generation in 2020. Despite the challenges, simplified FCF remained positive in Q2 and was almost unchanged in the first six months year-on-year at USD 356 mn, as sustain capex was cut back as a reaction to the pandemic and the subsequent economic crisis. A new 2020 EBITDA guidance of USD 1.7-1.9 bn was established, reflecting challenging trading conditions likely prevailing in H2.

Commenting on the results, MOL Group Chairman-CEO Zsolt Hernádi said “MOL faced unprecedented challenges in the second quarter of 2020, from significant health and safety risks stemming from the pandemic to major operational issues in running our plants during the lockdown, whilst making sure we preserved our financial strength. While the virus has not been defeated yet, I am proud to say that we have so far successfully tackled these challenges. The bulk majority of our employees are safe and in good health, we ensured a reliable supply to our customers in all of our markets, even at the very depth of the crisis, and we managed to generate a small positive simplified FCF in the quarter. This is a testament to the quality of the people and the agility of our business model in MOL. And this also gives me confidence that we will continue to successfully navigate through even the most difficult periods and emerge as a stronger entity.”