BPs lubricants business reported higher profits for the fourth quarter and lower profits for the full year, attributing the full-year decline mainly to adverse foreign exchange effects. German lubricant and aftermarket additive manufacturer Liqui Moly rebounded from software problems that impacted its half-year results, posting an increase in net sales for the full year.
BPs lubricants business reported an underlying replacement cost profit before interest and tax of $333 million for the fourth quarter, up 7.1 percent from $311 million, and $1.26 million for the full year, down 2.3 percent from $1.29 million.
The full-year result reflects year-on-year unit margin improvement, the London-based company said in its stock exchange announcement Feb. 4, offset by adverse foreign exchange effects. Replacement cost profit reflects the replacement cost of supplies.
Liqui Moly reported last month that the company reached a net sales record net of 569 million (U.S. $621 million), up 4 percent from 2018. The company reported last July that software implemented to simplify processes and reduce costs instead resulted in computer problems that caused a high backlog in orders. Sales revenue declined 0.8 percent during the first six months of 2019 to 259.6 million.
This shows that we can be successful even under adverse conditions, Managing Director Ernst Prost said in the Jan. 15 news release, with regard to the software problems suffered a year ago. The company claimed in the news release to have solved the software problems and then set one new monthly sales record after another in the second half of the year.
Liqui Moly is financially healthy and free of debt, Prost said.
The company said it has increased its number of employees from 849 to 933 in 2019.