Conglomerate giant, AG Leventis, has recorded a 55 percent rise in net income, thanks to effective cost control by the management of the company, analysis of the financial statements show.
The conglomerate giant that sells and services cars, commercial vehicles, motorcycles, agricultural and construction equipment and also deals in real estate, is penetrating the Nigerian market through aggressive expansion.
For the first nine months through September 2014, the company’s profit after tax (PAT) increased by 55 percent to N376.89 million from N242.68 million the same period of the corresponding year (Q3) 2013.
The bottom-line impressive performance of the company was bolstered by a 12 percent reduction in cost of sales to N6.05 billion, as against N6.90 billion last year.
Further spiking profit is a reduction in operating expenses by 1 percent to N1.31 billion from N1.32 billion the preceding year.
Gross margins increased by 9.04 percent to N2.29 billion in Q3 2014, compared with N2.10 billion the preceding year.
Margins were also stellar as gross profit margin jumped to 27.45 percent in Q3 2014, from 23.33 percent the preceding year, while cost of sales margin reduced to 72.50 percent as against 76.0 percent last year.
On the other hand, sales were down by 8 percent to N8.34 billion in the review period compared with N9.0 billion the same period of the corresponding year 2013.
Nigeria’s new auto policy, one of the major drivers of the country’s economy in the due course, according to some economists interviewed, will spur the growth of Leventis Motor business.
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Additionally, the rapid urbanisation and rising middle-class, which is expected to drive the demand for housing, analysts say, will also bolster the company’s real estate business.
However, bad roads that soar distribution costs, epileptic power supply and political unrest in the some part of the country still remain an impediment to Leventis’s growth prospects.
Leventis total assets were up by 15.62 percent to N23.68 billion in Q3 2014, compared with N20.48 billion the preceding year, fuelled by a 13 percent increase in investment property.
Current ratio, which measures the ability of a company to meet its short-term obligation as at when due was 1x- still below the 2.1x industry average. Sales turnover reduced to 35.21 times in the review period as against 43.90 times the p-receding year.
The company’s share price closed at N1.30 on the floor of the NSE, while market capitalisation was N3.44 billion.
BALA AUGIE
