Forte Oil Plc. A major player in the downstream sector of the Oil and Gas industry with businesses in Fuels (marketing & distribution of petroleum products), manufacture & sales of Lubricants and Greases and Solar Systems, released its FY 2018 results for the period ended December 31st, 2018 to the market on March 29th, 2019.
The Firm grew its revenue by 56% to 134bn. This was driven by growth in the individual revenues of its Fuels business by 63% to ₦120.8bn and Lubricants & Greases by 13% to ₦13.7bn compared to the preceding year. The Fuel business accounted for 89.7% of the revenue while the other businesses accounted for the rest.
Cost of sales rose significantly by 62% to ₦123.4bn in the year under review. This trend was also witnessed in distribution, admin and finance costs which grew by 3%, 8% and 47% to ₦2.2bn, ₦8bn & ₦3bn respectively. This adversely impacted the firms’ Profit before tax (PBT) which declined by 61% to ₦758.5Mn and consequently, its Profit after tax (PAT) by 72% from ₦1.3bn to ₦361Mn. This was recognized as PAT from continuing operations.
The firm had some discontinued operations (Forte Upstream Services, AP Oil and Gas Limited (APOG) and Amperion Power Distribution Company classed as Held
for Sale) which realized a profit of ₦8bn in FY2018 compared to ₦10.9bn the previous year. This brought the total profit to ₦8.3bn in FY 2018 as against ₦12.2bn in
FY2017.
19% of the firm’s Profit after tax from discontinued operations (₦1.54bn) in FY 2018 was allocated to equity shareholders. The rest went to non-controlling interest.
The firm’s EPS for the equity shareholders stood at 145Kobo, a 50% decrease compared to that of the preceding year.
No dividend was announced for FY 2018.
