Geregu Power Plc, on Thursday became the first listed company to file its unaudited result for the nine months ended September 30, 2024, with highlights including the triple-digit growth in revenue and profit.
According to the result posted on the portal of the Nigerian Exchange Limited, profit however grew faster than revenue despite an equally significant increase in cost of sales for the period, as well as the 224.63% growth in impairment loss on financial assets within the period.
Total revenue for the period improved by N56.835bn or 101.95% from N55.747bn in the corresponding period of last year to N112.583bn, boosted by the N71.424bn energy sold, up from N34.794bn; as capacity charge contributed N41.158bn from N20.952bn.
Cost of Sales grew by N31.07bn or 115.67% to N57.93bn from N26.86bn was driven by gas supply and transportation worth N55.752bn from N25.173bn; with plant depreciation accounting for the balance of N2.177bn from N1.687bn. Gross profit for the nine months stood at N54.952bn from N28.886bn.
The company reported “other Income” amounting to N1.963bn earned from disposal of scraps which did not exist in the comparable period of last year.
Impairment loss on financial assets increased by N7.025bn to N10.153bn from N3.127bn, lifted by the N10.234bn impairment loss on trade receivables, up from N3.127bn. Administrative expenses rose from N5.871bn to N7.484bn, buoyed by repair and maintenance of plant and machinery accounting for N1.2bn from N1.568bn (including spare parts, tools and consumables), behind personnel cost which gulped N1.876bn from N1.49bn. This resulted in operating profit of N37.616bn, a significant leap from N19.887bn in the preceding nine months.
Growth in finance income was flat at N6.58bn, slightly better than the previous N6.086bn, This was mainly the N5.582bn interest earned on bank deposits compared to the previous N4.672bn; and interest income on related party receivables valued at N997.534m, from N1.415bn. Finance cost dropped marginally from N8.489bn to N7.333bn, after interest on borrowings fell to N2.922bn from N4.048bn; and interest expense on bond was flat at N4.410bn from N4.440bn. Net finance cost, therefore, fell to N753.367m from N2.4bn.
Profit before income tax soared to N36.262bn against the previous N17.456bn; income tax expenses for the period doubled from N6.127bn to N12.073bn; comprising an income tax of N11.525bn from N6.639bn; and education tax of N1.487bn from N682.653m.
Consequently, profit for the period stood at N25.189bn from N11.359bn, this translated to improvement in Earnings Per Share for the period from N4.54 each to N9.68 per share.