Here's why...
BP reports massive profits Tue 26 October, 2004
BP said on Tuesday that pro forma net profits in the three months to September
30 rose 43 percent to $3.937 billion (2.5 billion pounds), including exceptional charges related to environmental clean-up costs and the write-off of a production platform destroyed by fire.Excluding the exceptional items, which had been flagged to the market earlier this month, net profits rose 46 percent to a record $4.338 billion. This compares with the average forecast of $4.18 billion given in a Reuters poll of 13 analysts.'