TonenGeneral incurs 59% net profit dive on higher crude cost.

Japan Energy Scan, February, 2003

TOKYO, Feb. 21 Kyodo

TonenGeneral Sekiyu K.K., a major oil refiner, said Friday its group net profit dived 58.8% to 8.47 billion yen in the year to Dec. 31 due to lower sales of petroleum products and higher costs of crude imports.

TonenGeneral, an ExxonMobil affiliate, said its group pretax profit plummeted 83.9% to 8.26 billion yen on sales of 1,928.87 billion yen, down 6.5%.

Per-share net profit also dived to 13.92 yen in the period, down from 30.93 yen the previous year.

TonenGeneral will pay a full-year dividend of 36 yen per share, including an interim dividend of 18 yen already paid. The full-year dividend compares with 34 yen the previous year.

The company blamed the lower profitability on lower sales,...