BP's refining profit boosted

BP Plc’s profit from refining and marketing in the first quarter surged 185 per cent from a year earlier because it was able to use cheaper crude oil at some of its US plants and because of higher petrochemical prices.

Replacement cost profit before interest and tax climbed to $2.079 billion from $729 million in the same quarter of 2010, the London-based company said today in a statement.

West Texas Intermediate oil has been cheaper than other types of crude because of high stockpiles at Cushing, Oklahoma, the delivery point for futures contracts.

“There was strong refining feedstock optimisation in the US, due to BP’s location advantage in accessing WTI-priced crude grades, and strength in petrochemicals’ aromatics margins and volumes,” according to the statement.

Barclays profit falls 33%
Barclays Plc, the UK’s third-largest bank by assets, said pretax profit at its Barclays Capital investment banking unit declined by 33 per cent after revenue from fixed income, currencies and commodities trading fell in a “challenging” market.

Robust Q1 for Credit Suisse
Credit Suisse reported record first-quarter investment banking revenue that beat forecasts as a hiring spree helped it gain market share and client activity rose.

Switzerland’s second-largest bank said on Wednesday investment bank revenues rose to a record $5.4 billion from $5 billion a year ago, although in Swiss francs they slipped 6 per cent to 4.9 billion francs ($5.57 billion) as the dollar fell.

“If you look at our US peers, our numbers stand us in very good stead,” chief financial officer David Mathers told journalists.

LG Elec posts Q1 profit
LG Electronics Inc posted its first profit in three quarters and the world’s number three handset maker said it saw better earnings ahead as it halted slipping margins in the competitive mobile phone market.

LG’s phone division is expected to swing to a profit in the current quarter, boosted by new products such as Optimus 2X and Optimus Black in the high-end segment.

Volvo first-quarter net up
Volvo AB, Sweden’s largest maker of trucks, said first-quarter net income rose to 4.09 billion kronor, compared with 1.68 billion kronor a year earlier, and the mean estimate in a Bloomberg survey of analysts of 3.49 billion kronor.