The board of Tripple Gee Plc, on Monday informed investors through the Nigerian Stock Exchange that its operations for the year ended March 31, 2017, was not a particularly fantastic one, following which turnover fell 25%, compared to previous year, while after tax suffered a worse fate, sliding 63% down, despite the 158% decline in tax provision from N9.221bn to N5.35bn.
Turnover for the period fell to N601.722m from N806.432m, out of which printing services suffered a significant fall to N187.849m from N322.257m; while revenue from ‘other packaging’ fetched N203.876m, an improvement over previous year’s N118.212m; just as ‘other printing services fell to N130.881m from N304.774m. ‘Packaging’ revenue stood at N79.116m, up from the previous N61.189m.
Cost of sales for the period dropped to N428.311m from N556.674m, with raw materials as the biggest contributor to cost, valued at N205.591m, down from N301.874m; salaries and wages was N107.892m, as against N107.475m a year earlier. Distribution and administrative expenses dropped to N123.923m from N139.005m, N57.867m of which was general administrative expenses, which dropped from N61.629m; leaving gross profit at N173.411m as against the prior year’s N249.758m.
Distribution and administrative expenses also fell slightly from N139.005m to N123.923m, following which operating profit slumped to N49.488m from N110.953m.
Finance costs dropped to N34.025m from N73.614m, while net finance cost stood at N33.899m from N74.069m, as a result of which profit before tax dropped by 58% from N36.884m to N15.589m.
After tax profit was also on the decline, falling from N27.663m, to N10.239, translating to earnings per share of 2.07 kobo, down from 5.59 kobo. The directors are however recommending a dividend of 3 kobo per share just like prior year, thereby reaching to its reserve.