One of Nigeria’s leading energy groups, Oando PLC has released its financial results for the year ended December 31, 2018. The audited report shows that the company recorded a profit-after-tax of N28.8 billion, an increase of 46 percent compared to the N19.8 billion for the same period in 2017.
Increase in oil production, coupled with higher commodity prices saw the group’s revenue rise by 37 percent to N679.5 billion as against N497.4 billion in the preceding year. This led to a gross profit of N96.3 billion, an increase of 9 percent for the same period in 2017 (N88.1 billion).
Although the company had a zero percent change in overall production volume from its upstream business, oil production increased by ten percent from 15,492 barrels per day (bbls/day) in 2017 to 16,967bbls/day in 2018.
Furthermore, the company’s downstream business (Oando Trading) traded over 14 million barrels of crude oil under various contracts with the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) in 2018, as well as delivering 739,876 metric tonnes (MT) of refined products, acting as a key source of liquidity to the Oando Group.
According to the Group Chief Executive of Oando PLC, Wale Tinubu, over the last few years, the company has developed a reliable platform for future growth through the execution of a corporate strategy designed to streamline operations, reduce debt and optimize asset portfolio.
This is evident in the optimized balance sheet which reveals a decline of 11 percent in total group borrowings of N210.9 billion compared to N237.4 billion in the previous year. Also, long -term group borrowings stood at N76.8 billion, a decrease of 23 percent from N99.6 billion in 2017.
“Our asset base is delivering strong free cash flows as evidenced by a 70 percent reduction in our Upstream Borrowings since the closure of our landmark acquisition of ConocoPhillips’s Nigerian asset in 2014,” Tinubu remarked. While he added that the group remains confident in its ability to deliver significant value to shareholders in the years ahead as well as resuming dividend payments.