Sinopec profit falls 15.3 per cent on yuan weakness

Beijing: Sinopec Ltd., China's second-largest state-owned oil company, announced that its latest quarterly profit fell 15.3 per cent due to higher costs connected to weakness in China's currency, the yuan.

Sinopec said Tuesday it earned 14.1 billion yuan ($2.3 billion), or 0.12 yuan (2 US cents) per share, in the three months ending March. Revenue declined 7.8 per cent to 641 billion yuan ($107 billion).

Sinopec was squeezed by a decline in the value of China's yuan against the dollar, the currency it must use to pay for oil. The yuan has declined by 3 per cent this year against the dollar. The company said finance-related expenses rose 67 per cent due to the currency decline.