Japan's Inpex posted a 61% surge in first-quarter net profit to 151.5 billion yen ($1.12 billion) as higher oil and gas sales coupled with a weaker yen boosted financials, it said on Wednesday, falling slightly short of the market expectations.
Analysts surveyed by Refinitiv forecasted Inpex's first-quarter net profit would be 152.7 billion yen.
The company, Japan's largest oil and gas exploration and production company, sees its full-year net profit at 300 billion yen, down 35% year-on-year.
Inpex expects its annual net profit to go down as it expects the average Brent crude oil price to be $80 per barrel in 2023. That is down from an average last year of $94.57 per barrel, according to Refinitiv data.
Still, Wednesday's profit forecast represents an upgrade from the 270 billion yen profit guidance from the company in February. Analysts surveyed by Refinitiv forecast Inpex full-year net profit at 449.7 billion yen.
Inpex plans to pay 64 yen per share in annual dividends on this year's results, up from 62 yen per share set for its 2022 performance. Its shares closed 0.75% down on Wednesday.
($1 = 135.0500 yen)
(Reuters - Reporting by Katya Golubkova; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman and Christian Schmollinger)