After weeks of anxiety, the board of integrated energy giant- Oando Plc, on Friday presented its audited financials for the year ended December 31, 2017, indicating that gross earnings increased by N41.676bn or 9.14%, while profit after tax stood at N… from a loss in the preceding.
That is far as the good news, as Ernst&Young, the company’s external auditors, drew attention to the going concern basis, especially the N30.6bn comprehensive losses as at year ended December 31, 2017, up from N28.1bn in the prior year.
This condition, among others, the auditors stated, “indicate that a material uncertainty exists that may cast significant doubt on the company and the group’s ability to continue as a going concern.”
The auditors did not however modify their opinions in respect of the matter.
According to the financials, Oando Plc recorded N497.422bn in 2017, up from N455.746bn; cost of sales dropped marginally from N426.933bn from N409.341bn; resulting in gross profit of N88.081bn, up from N28.812bn.
On segment basis, supply and trading was the biggest contributor to revenue, at N392.287bn, up from N400.593bn; followed by the N140.51bn from gas and power (N30.368bn in 2016), while exploration and production raked in N103.549bn in revenue, compared to the previous N77.276bn. Also, N392.287bn of the supply and trading revenue came from other countries, down from N400.499bn; while exploration and production from Nigeria stood at N103.549bn, as against N77.276bn; followed by the N140.51m, also from marketing, refining and terminals within Nigerian, as against the previous N58.625bn. In 2016, gas and power contributed N30.368bn to revenue.
Other operating income dropped by N26.71bn or 36.48% from N73.2bn in 2016 to N46.49bn; just as administrative expenses was contained at N77.893bn, from prior year’s N109.252bn, representing a decline of N31.359bn or 28.7%, leaving operating profit of N56.677bn; a significant improvement, when compared to the loss of N7.256bn in 2016.
Oando Plc reported finance cost of N43.743bn, down from N58.313bn; while finance income increased to N9.959bn from N7.256bn; as net finance costs fell to N33.784bn, as against the previous N51.056bn.
Share of loss of associates dropped by half from N4.661bn to N2.129bn; leading to the profit before income tax from continuing operations of N20.764bn, as against a loss of N62.956bn in 2016.
Income tax expense of N7.295bn, brought profit from continuing operations to N13.469bn, from a loss of N25.387bn in 2016, which was even helped by a tax credit of N37.569bn for the period.
Profit after tax for the year from discontinued operations at N6.303bn, resulted in profit for the year of N19.772bn, compared with the N29.3bn that left net profit at N3.912bn; translating to Earnings Per Share of N1.13, as against previous year’s N0.30 each.
For Oando Plc, the biggest contribution to net profit for the year was the N28.546bn from exploration and production, up from N347.734m in 2016; followed from afar by the N88.151m from gas and power, as against the N6.075bn which were depressed by the N6.896bn loss suffered by the corporate centre and ‘other,’ down from a profit of N4.744bn; as well as the N1.965bn from supply and trading, which recorded a gain of N204.729m in previous year. In the 2016 full year, Energy Services suffered N1.136bn loss; just as marketing and refining lost N6.323bn.

Photo: Oando Wings on Ozumba Mbadiwe Street, Victoria Island, Lagos