Gazprom, the world's top gas producer, posted on Thursday a 10 percent year-on-year fall in third-quarter profit after foreign exchange gains came in substantially lower than in the same period of 2012.
The company posted profit for the quarter of 276 billion rubles ($8.13 billion), but the figure exceeded analyst expectations who had forecast earnings of 259 billion rubles.
Reuters calculations based on Gazprom figures show net currency exchange gains stood at 4 billion rubles in the third quarter compared with 78.6 billion rubles in the equivalent period of 2012.
This fall was the main reason behind the year-on-year fall in third-quarter profit, according to Alfa Bank analyst Alexander Kornilov, who said a drop in profit at Gazprom's affiliates also hit the firm's bottom line.
The state-controlled gas export monopoly said revenue for the period rose 7 percent year-on-year to 1.2 trillion rubles.
Analysts have said that they would focus on the company's conference call later Thursday to seek an update on the company's gas talks with China and the outlook for gas exports to Europe.
The company did not report any rebates paid to European clients as part of revisions to its long-term gas contracts for the nine-month period. Such reimbursements acted as a drag on results in the year-earlier period.
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