UPDATE 1-Brazil’s Braskem posts Q1 net loss on forex, taxes

* Q1 loss 123 mln reais vs year-ago profit 10 mln reais

* Foreign exchange losses, taxes weigh

* Tax liabilities add 206 mln reais in charges

* EBITDA jumps 59 pct to 729 mln reais
(Adds foreign exchange losses and tax charges)

SAO PAULO, May 14 (BestGrowthStock) – Braskem, Latin America’s
largest petrochemical company, posted a first-quarter loss on
Friday, reversing a profit in the year-earlier period, due to
large foreign exchange charges and tax liabilities.

The net loss totaled 123 million reais ($69.2 million),
compared with a profit of 10 million reais a year earlier, the
company said in a securities filing.

Braskem (BRKM5.SA: )(BAK.N: ) said net losses from foreign
exchange transactions and debt servicing costs widened to 645
million reais from 208 million reais a year earlier. The
company also had 206 million reais in charges in the quarter
after it applied for a government program known as REFIS to pay
back overdue taxes at a discount.

Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and
amortization, a measure of operational profitability and cash
generation known as EBITDA, climbed to 729 million reais from
457 million reais in the first quarter of 2009, the company

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($1=1.777 reais)
(Reporting by Elzio Barreto; editing by John Wallace)
