Earnings Fall for Fuchs, BP Lubes

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Independent lubricants blender Fuchs Petrolub SE posted decreased profit and sales, and BPs lubricants business reported a slight decline in profit for the second quarter, compared to 2018s second quarter.

Fuchs

Mannheim, Germany-based Fuchs reported 57 million (U.S. $64 million) in earnings after tax, down almost 22 percent from 73 million in the same quarter last year. Sales revenue slid a little over 2 percent to 653 million.

The blenders second-quarter revenue in Europe, Middle East and Africa decreased 3.7 percent to 399 million, down from 414 million. Its revenue in the Asia-Pacific region was also down 3.7 percent to 184 million, compared to 191 million a year earlier. In North and South America, the companys revenue rose 2 percent to 106 million, up from 104 million.

Fuchs Petrolub Chairman of the Board Stefan Fuchs said in a news release that the company deemed the first half of 2019 disappointing, noting that after a weak first quarter in Europe and Asia, the decline in sales revenues in the second quarter has now also impacted North and South America, and thus all our key markets.

Fuchs said it does not expect the global economic situation to improve over the remainder of the year. In particular, we no longer anticipate an upturn in the automotive sector, which is important for us, he said.

He said the company has already taken measures to reduce costs. Wherever possible, we will continue to reduce our expenses with a sense of proportion, and for the time being will not further increase our workforce as planned, he stated. Despite all these adversities, we continue working on the basis for future growth with determination; the modernization and expansion of our plants will continue ….

BP

BPs lubricants business profits declined 1.5 percent to $321 million in the second quarter, down from $326 million in the year-earlier period. The company in its stock exchange report attributed the result to the impact of adverse foreign exchange rate movements.

The London-based company refers to the lubricants business profits as underlying replacement cost before interest and tax. Replacement cost refers to the replacement cost of inventories sold during the period, and is arrived at by excluding inventory holding gains and losses from profit or loss, according to BP.

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