Net income falls 17% to 244.9 billion rubles, beating estimate Producer books 152 billion-ruble currency-related gain Gazprom PJSC’s profit shank less than expected in the second quarter as a strengthening ruble helped ease the world’s biggest natural gas producer’s debt burden. Net income fell 17 percent from a year earlier to 244.9 billion rubles ($3.8 billion), the Moscow-based company said in a statement late Monday. That compares with an estimated 186 billion rubles in an Interfax survey. Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, or Ebitda, also beat estimates. The producer booked a net gain related to the stronger currency of about 152 billion rubles. “The second quarter was the worst for Gazprom this year, and the results are better than expected,” said Andrey Polischuk, an analyst at Raiffeisen Bank in Moscow. The company’s gas prices in its most lucrative markets, Europe and Turkey, are set to recover until […]