Murphy Oil Earnings See Second Quarter Boost
by July 31, 2013 4:47 pm 138 views
Murphy Oil Corp., which is poised to spin off its retail and refinery operations, posted higher second quarter net income compared to one year ago.
The El Dorado-based oil and gas company recorded earnings of $402.6 million, or $2.12 per diluted share, compared to $295.4 million, or $1.52 per diluted share, one year ago.
Revenues climbed to $7.21 billion for the quarter, up from $7.15 billion in the previous year’s second quarter. A contributing factor to the boost in income was an after-tax gain of $71.9 million from the sale of the Mungo and Monan fields in the United Kingdom during the just completed quarter.
In spinning off its retail and refinery groups, Murphy Oil Corp. is preparing to split into two publicly traded companies. The current company will remain a pure-play oil and gas exploration and production firm. Murphy USA will become a standalone company holding retail assets across the south and midwest.
In the last quarter, the new board of directors for Murphy USA was announced.
“Murphy USA is in the process of finalizing its capital structure,” said Murphy Oil CEO Steve Cosse, who will be transitioning corporate leadership to CEO-elect Roger Jenkins. “We expect that the Murphy Oil Corporation Board of Directors will consider this progress at its meeting next Wednesday and we would expect to announce the board’s conclusion shortly thereafter.
Andrew Clyde will lead Murphy USA.
Cosse also said that Murphy Oil and Murphy USA will freeze providing earnings guidance due to the split in the company structure.
“Due to the transformation of Murphy Oil to a pure play E&P company with the anticipated spin-off of the U.S. retail business, we will no longer provide future quarterly earnings guidance in our earnings press release. Murphy Oil and Murphy USA are each considering the type of future quarterly guidance that will be provided going forward,” he said.
Shares of Murphy Oil (NYSE: MUR) closed trading Wednesday at $67.72. The company’s stock has traded between $50.03 and $68.76 during the past year.