China Petroleum and Chemical's (Sinopec) share price plunged 4.5 per cent to HK$1.26 yesterday after it reported a worse than expected 86 per cent year-on-year decline in first-quarter net profit to 542 million yuan (about HK$507.79 million).
The poor result shocked many analysts, who had forecast the net profit would be between one billion yuan and 2.4 billion yuan.
The disappointment has prompted some analysts to downgrade their full-year profit forecast for the company.
European brokerage BNP Paribas Peregrine lowered its net-profit forecast by 18.7 per cent to 11.67 billion yuan this year, and by 17.6 per cent to 12.69 billion yuan next year.
Merrill Lynch has cut its net-profit prediction for this year by 26 per cent to 7.48 billion yuan, while Sinopec's listing sponsor Morgan Stanley has lowered its forecast by 7.7 per cent to 11.27 billion yuan.
Before the profit announcement, analysts had forecast a net profit of 15.11 billion yuan this year, according to the consensus of 23 brokerages polled by Thomson Financial/First Call.
