By Adam Mitchell Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES PARIS -(Dow Jones)- French oil major Total SA (TOT) Wednesday reported a 37% fall in third-quarter net profit as refining profits slumped and oil traded much lower than a year ago. France's biggest company by market value said net income fell to EUR1.92 billion for the three months ended Sep. 30, from EUR3.05 billion in the same quarter a year earlier. Sales fell 31% to EUR33.63 billion from EUR48.85 billion. Meanwhile, Total said third-quarter profit, adjusted to exclude inventory changes, one-time items, and the group's equity share of the amortization of intangibles related to the Sanofi-Aventis (SNY) merger, fell 54% to EUR1.87 billion in the third quarter, from EUR4.07 billion in the year-earlier period. Adjusted profit is the income figure most closely watched by analysts. Total's third-quarter adjusted profit beats an average estimate of EUR1.84 billion, according to a Dow Jones Newswires poll of 10 analysts' estimates. Shares of Total have gained 6.1% over the past three months, outperforming a CAC-40 up 3.1%, as oil prices continued to recover. In October, crude oil futures climbed above $80 a barrel for the first time in a year. The shares Tuesday in Paris closed flat at EUR40.95 each. Company Web site: http://www.total.com -By Adam Mitchell, Dow Jones Newswires, +33 1 40171756; adam.mitchell@dowjones.com
