Poland's Orlen second-quarter core profit tops estimates as downstream margins widen

Aug 6 (Reuters) - Poland's largest energy group Orlen posted a second-quarter adjusted core profit that beat analyst expectations on Thursday, as wider refining and petrochemical margins lifted its downstream business.

The company's core profit adjusted for changes in value of its oil inventories and impairments, or EBITDA LIFO, was 13.9 billion zlotys ($3.7 billion) in the quarter, above the 13.3 billion zlotys expected by analysts in a company-compiled consensus.

Refining margins strengthened as the Middle East conflict pushed prices for refined products like diesel and jet fuel up significantly faster than the cost of crude oil feedstock, the company said.

Those gains were partly offset in Orlen's retail fuel business, where a government cap on pump prices weighed on margins from March 31 before being phased out in June.

Second-quarter core profit in the energy segment rose 36% to 3.45 billion zlotys, helped by higher electricity and gas distribution volumes, hedging transactions and lower coal and fuel costs for conventional power generation.

The state-controlled company's net profit for the second quarter jumped more than fivefold to 7.68 billion zlotys from 1.43 billion zlotys in the same period a year earlier.

($1 = 3.7300 zlotys)

(Reporting by Rafal Nowak in Gdansk; Editing by Matt Scuffham)