Lotos, Poland's second-biggest oil refiner, on Wednesday reported a bigger-than-expected 288 percent rise in first-quarter net profit due to higher oil prices, fuel sales, margins and inventory revaluation. The state-run company posted a bottom line of 411 million zlotys ($106.41 million), up from 106 million a year earlier and well above the 278 million expected by analysts.

Revenue also rose more than expected to 5.4 billion zlotys, while its adjusted operating result - the so-called EBIT LIFO, which disregards the impact of crude oil price changes on inventories - came in at 454 million zlotys, compared with analysts' expectations of 285 million. "It seems that the LIFO effect could have been underestimated in the consensus poll," Beata Szparaga, equity analyst at Vestor DM said.

Fuel sales at Lotos as well as at larger rival PKN Orlen have risen since the introduction of new legislation on August 1 aimed at curbing black market sales. This helped offset the negative impact of refinery maintenance conducted between March 3 and April 15.

"The reported results differ from the consensus due to oil inventory revaluation and lower amortisation in the upstream segment. This is why I would rather focus on the adjusted results," said Kamil Kliszcz, an analyst at mBank DM. Shares in Lotos have risen by 47 percent since the start of the year and analysts expect the company to outperform the market on Wednesday.

Copyright Reuters, 2017