Finland's Neste to slash around 600 jobs as quarterly core profit slumps

(Reuters) - Finnish oil refiner and biofuel maker Neste will slash around 600 positions, it said on Thursday, after posting fourth-quarter core profit below expectations.

"Our current financial performance is weak and not sustainable", CEO Heikki Malinen said in a statement.

Falling prices of renewable fuel, hit by weak demand and a supply glut, have caused the Finnish group to cut its guidance on the renewable sales margin three times in 2024.

The company's comparable earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) in the fourth quarter slumped 78% to 168 million euros ($175 million), missing analysts' average estimate of 308 million euros in a company-provided poll.

Neste said it expects its sales volume for the renewable business in 2025 to be higher than in 2024, when it stood at 3.7 million tons, but provided no specific range.

It will push back the scheduled start of commercial operations in its renewable refinery in Rotterdam, Netherlands, the company said. The total investment costs for the site had risen to 2.5 billion euros from 1.9 billion euros, it said.

In November, the company had to temporarily shut down its Rotterdam refinery due to a fire and the accident was expected to hit deliveries of renewable diesel for several weeks.

Neste on Thursday proposed a dividend payout of 0.20 euro per share for 2024, down from 1.20 euro it distributed a year ago.

($1 = 0.9586 euros)

(Reporting by Boleslaw Lasocki in Gdansk; Editing by Mrigank Dhaniwala)