OMV Falls as UBS Cuts Rating on ‘Downbeat Outlook:’ Vienna Mover

OMV AG (OMV) fell in Vienna trading after UBS cut the rating of central Europe’s biggest oil company to hold from buy, citing its management’s “downbeat outlook.”

Shares declined as much as 1.9 percent and were down 1.3 percent at 26 euros by 11:03 a.m. in the Austrian capital, heading for its biggest decline since July 23.

While OMV’s second-quarter profit beat analyst estimates, “we believe quarterly earnings may now have now hit a medium- term peak for the company,” Daniel Ekstein, an analyst at UBS in London, wrote in a note to customers today.

OMV’s executive board, headed by Chief Executive Officer Gerhard Roiss, sees refining margins weaken in the second half. Additionally, it said it expected a “significant deterioration” in EconGas earnings, UBS said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Zoe Schneeweiss in Vienna at zschneeweiss@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Boris Groendahl at bgroendahl@bloomberg.net