The management of Forte Oil Plc gave investors reasons to cheer on Friday with the release of its 2017 first quarter result on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) portal, indicating that while revenue slowed down, compared to previous year’s, profit after tax was almost double, helped by a drop in distribution expenses and rise in finance income.
Revenue for the period stood at N33bn, down by N2.599bn or 7.3% from N35.602bn; with fuels sales business contributing N22.765bn, down from N29.93bn in prior year; N468.396m from production chemicals, down from N527.663m; lubricants and greases rose to N3.237bn from N2.155bn; while contribution from its power generation segment (Geregu Power Generation Company) jumped by N3.544bn or 118.6% from N2.988bn to N6.532bn. This resulted in gross profit of N5.803bn, up from N4.805bn.
Cost of sales dropped from N30.796bn from N27.2bn, out of which fuel marketing and distribution accounted for N20.142bn, down from N26.957bn; production chemicals, N249.203m, from N404.534m; lubricants, N2.635b, up from N1.644bn; and power generation, N4.163bn compared with N1.791bn.
Other income dropped to N647.896m from N771.748m, helped by the N499.749m foreign exchange gain for the period from sale of US$ inflows, up from N16.266m, just as distribution expenses fell from N911.545m to N501.521m (from N902.298m), the bulk of which came mainly from the N498.583m freight cost; just as distributive expenses increased slightly from N2.219bn from N2.322bn; following which operating profit rose from N2.445bn to N3.626bn.
Finance income rose to N563.586m from N374.934m; finance cost rose from N1.519bn to N2.14bn; resulting in net finance cost of N1.577bn, as against the previous N1.144bn.
