HollyFrontier Profit Falls On Lower Refining Margins - Update

(RTTNews) - Petroleum refiner HollyFrontier Corp (HFC) Wednesday reported a decline in second-quarter profit, hurt by lower refining margins that offset a small climb in revenue. Revenue for the quarter topped Wall Street estimates.

Moving forward, CEO Mike Jennings said the company sees healthy margins and expects growth in North American crude oil production.

HollyFrontier also declared a special cash dividend of $0.50 per share and a regular dividend of $0.32 per share.

HollyFrontier shares are gaining about 2 percent in morning trade on the New York Stock Exchange.

The Dallas, Texas-based company posted quarterly net earnings to stockholders of $176.4 million or $0.89 per share, compared with $257 million or $1.27 per share last year.

On average, 14 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected of $0.95 per share for the quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.

Sales and other revenue for the quarter climbed to $5.37 billion from $5.30 billion in the prior year. Analysts expected revenue of $4.46 billion.

HollyFrontier said its average refinery gross margin per produced barrel slid 28 percent from last year to $14.54, and average net operating margin per produced barrel to $8.85 from $14.19.

Refinery production levels averaged 463,290 barrels per day in the quarter, up from 408,720 bpd in the prior year. Crude oil charges averaged about 438,960 bpd, up from 381,460 bpd last year.

HollyFrontier stock is trading at $46.62, up $0.81 or 1.77%, on a volume of 1.4 million shares on the NYSE.