Leveraging on increasing retail outlets, downstream operator, Conoil’s half-year revenue for the period ended 30th June 2019 surged 32.56percent to N72.22bn.
Led by its revenue from the sale of white products popularly referred to as Premium Motor Spirit with a 95.14percent amounting to N68.71bn from N51.74bn in half-year 2018. Its lubricants segment also increased 27.98percent to N3.51bn, a 27.98%
Year-on-Year growth, the company, however, reported nil revenues from its LPG segment since 2017, and only reported direct costs of NGN167,000 in 2018.
At 36.26percent, the company’s direct cost growth rate was relatively higher than that of its revenues, its Cost-to-Sales ratio settling at 90.73percent for the year as against 88.27percent in the half year 2018, notably, much of the increase in the overall cost of sales came from the
White Products segment which saw a 36.66percent expansion in costs. Gross margin, therefore, pitched in at 9.27percent
ConOil’s ooperating expenses -to-Sales for the half-year was lower at 5.63percent as against 8.50percent in half-year 2018., with OPEX at NGN3.57bn.
Pre-tax and Post-tax profits were however slowed 104.00percent due to an increase in borrowings, as finance costs saw a 8.63percent increase. Pre-tax margin stood at 2.10percent to N1.52bn, while after-tax earnings jumped to N1.03bn, a net margin of 1.43percent.
A further analysis of the result shows that inventories moderated by 3.60percent to N8.81bn, even as trade receivables ticked up by 1.76percent to N30.83bn. While payables dropped 12.45percent to N30.70bn), borrowings increased by 1.04 times to N9.72bn, a cause for concern, considering the cash hoard of N16.00bn and significantly higher finance costs of NGN1.17bn as against N1.08bn in half-year 2018.
In the meantime, sshareholders of the company have approved a dividend of N1.4 billion for the 2018 financial year, just as the company has expressed optimism about sustaining its tradition of delivering higher dividend.
The shareholders gave the approval at the 49th annual general meeting (AGM) in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State.
Commenting on the company’s performance, the shareholders expressed satisfaction with the growth path which the board and management have charted for sustained profitability.
For the financial period ended December 31, 2018, Conoil profit before tax rose by 11.4 percent to N2.567 billion from N2.305 billion in 2017, while profit after tax grew faster by 13.8 percent to N1.796 billion.
OLUFIKAYO OWOEYE
