(Reuters) -World Wrestling Entertainment Inc on Wednesday reported a drop in first-quarter revenue and operating income due to a delay in a key event but maintained its full-year earnings forecast.

The sports entertainment company said it continues to target “record revenue” and adjusted operating income before depreciation and amortization (OIBDA) of $395 million to $410 million this year, sending its share up about 2%.

Revenue at WWE, which is in the process of merging with Endeavor Group-owned Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) franchise, declined 11% to $297.6 million in the quarter ended March 31.

The company said revenue fell mainly due to the shifting of a large-scale international event, which occurred in the first quarter of 2022, but this year is expected to occur in the second quarter.

Operating income slumped 43% to $53.1 million dragged by the decrease in revenue. Net income dropped to $36.7 million, or $0.43 per diluted share, from $66.1 million, or $0.77 per diluted share.

Last month, WWE and Endeavor Group signed a deal to combine the wrestling company and mixed martial arts franchise UFC to form a new publicly listed entertainment giant valued at about $21 billion.

As part of the deal, which is expected to close in the second half of this year, Endeavor will own a 51% stake in the resultant company, while WWE investors will own the rest.

(Reporting by Yuvraj Malik in Bengaluru; editing by Eileen Soreng)

By Arunima Kumar

(Reuters) -U.S. refiner Phillips 66 beat Wall Street estimate for first-quarter profit on Wednesday, joining rivals in gaining from elevated margins on sustained fuel demand amid tight crude supplies.

The company’s shares rose 1.3% to $95.98 in morning trade.

Profits from turning crude oil into gasoline, diesel and jet fuel surged as supplies remained tight due to pandemic-era closure of facilities and a recovery in demand.

Margins were also supported by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine last year that further tightened supplies.

Realized margins soared 91% to $20.72 per barrel in the first quarter from a year earlier, Phillips 66 said.

Margins jumped nearly 71% at Marathon Petroleum and 84% at Valero Corp, helping the company’s rivals report bumper first-quarter profits that also beat estimates.

Phillips 66’s crude utilization rate was 90% in the reported quarter, marginally higher than last year’s 89%, while total processed input fell to 1.8 million barrels per day (bpd) from 1.9 million bpd.

“Refining drove the beat…We expect 2023 to be a lower turnaround year for PSX, with most of the work front-loaded in 1Q,” said RBC Capital Markets analyst TJ Schultz.

U.S. refiners took up major maintenance activities during the first three months of 2023 after running their facilities at almost full capacity last year to keep up with the recovery in demand.

“We ran above industry-average crude utilization, successfully executed major turnarounds and increased market capture to 93%,” Phillips 66’s CEO Mark Lashier said in a statement.

The Houston-based refiner reported adjusted earnings of $4.21 per share for the three months ended March 31, compared with average analyst estimate of $3.56, according to Refinitiv data.

(Reporting by Arunima Kumar in Bengaluru; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila)

By Rachna Uppal

DUBAI (Reuters) – Government-led reforms and the growth of private investment in new sectors will help support non-oil economic growth in Saudi Arabia amid an expected sharp slowdown in overall growth this year, a senior IMF official said.

The Saudi economy grew 8.7% last year, as high oil prices boosted revenue and led to the kingdom’s first budget surplus in almost 10 years.

The IMF projects that Saudi GDP growth will more than halve, to 3.1%, this year, in line with the forecast for Middle East oil exporters. The forecast, however, is higher than the 2.6% growth rate that the IMF projected in January.

Several OPEC+ member states, led by Saudi Arabia, the world’s top crude exporter, recently announced surprise cuts to oil production from May, initially driving up global prices, although global worries and an uncertain demand outlook are weighing on prices.

“This year, with the implementation of the new OPEC+ quotas, we expect the oil sector to slow down,” Jihad Azour, director for the Middle East and Central Asia at the IMF, told Reuters, adding that the impact on the kingdom’s budget depended on prices.

“The drop in production will affect growth because output will decline, but revenues could grow and this could have a positive impact on both external accounts, the reserves, and the budget deficit,” he said.

“Clearly, the strategy over the last five to six years has helped the Saudi economy, and also the public finances, to be less dependent on the cycle of oil.”

Saudi Arabia has embarked on an ambitious economic transformation plan known as Vision 2030, investing billions to diversify into sectors such as tourism, launch massive infrastructure projects, and develop the financial and private sectors.

“The size of the non-oil economy is growing and it’s mainly driven by the private sector,” Azour said.

(Reporting by Rachna Uppal; Editing by Leslie Adler)

By Liz Hampton

DENVER (Reuters) -U.S. shale gas producer Chesapeake Energy on Wednesday said it anticipated volatility in natural gas markets to persist, and that it could hold off bringing some wells online if low prices continue.

Chesapeake said it had opted to conduct some maintenance in the Haynesville shale while gas prices were low. It also warned that it was seeing a pullback in third-party well proposals and that it anticipated a slowdown in non-operated activity.

U.S. natural gas prices fell some 50% this year, prompting energy companies to refocus some activity on oilier basins. Henry Hub futures were trading around $2.153 per million British thermal units (mmBTU) on Wednesday morning, down 2.7%, while shares of Chesapeake were down 2.5% to $78.13.

“As we go through the summer months there is going to be plenty of volatility in the market,” Chief Executive Nick Dell’Osso told investors.

The decline in activity was leading to a softening of service costs, which had jumped in the past year amid limited capacity, the company said.

Chesapeake continues to hold talks with third parties about selling the remainder of its Eagle Ford assets in South Texas, it said on Wednesday. Dell’Osso warned, however, that deal-making for gas assets had become “hard” given the weak market.

(Reporting by Liz Hampton in Denver; editing by Jonathan Oatis)