Feyisayo Popoola
NASCON Allied Industries (formerly National Salt Company), a member of the Dangote Group, has posted a profit of N4.4bn for the 2018 financial year, compared to N5.34bn in 2017..
The company, in a statement, said it made revenue of N25.8bn in 2018, down from N27.06bn in 2017.
It added that each shareholder would, however, be paid a dividend of 100 kobo per share for every 50 kobo share held.
According to the statement, the decline in the company’s revenue and profitability is attributable to the company’s idling vegetable oil and tomato plants for two years.
A further breakdown of the company’s revenue showed that sale of salt remained its biggest business, contributing N20.761bn, down from N22.247bn in 2017, out of which N12.565bn was incurred as cost of sales, as against N11.62bn in prior year.
Freight income followed at N4.084bn, compared to the N3.858bn recorded in 2017 as N4.442bn costs were incurred in the process, which resulted in a loss of N500.245m, down from N583.36m the previous year.
The seasoning segment was, however, better than freight business, contributing N924.167m income.
The vegetable oil segment did not contribute to the topline and bottom line in 2018, unlike in 2017, when it contributed N192.904m, but it incurred N335.623m as cost, resulting in a N142.719m loss.
Tomato paste did not report any revenue for the year, and yet there was N32.84m in cost and segment loss.
The lion’s share of cost of sales for the year was the N10.66bn for raw materials consumed, up from N10.148bn.Investment income rose to N468.379m from N354.745m, out of which fixed deposit rose to N381.835m from N309.776m, while treasury bills yielded N86.11m, a significant rise from N44.298m in 2017.Other income rose by 159.07 per cent up from N11.3m in the preceding year to N29.27m, boosted by the N20.672m from insurance claim, which climbed from N10.004m; while sale of scrap soared from N1.292m to N8.593m.Other operating gains stood at N841.85m, from a loss of N1.87m in 2017, which was driven by the N992.058m net foreign exchange gains.The statement said it was projected that the shareholders would gain a bumper harvest in the preceding year as the company’s Kano-based tomato paste plant had resumed operations.The tomato paste plant has been idle for over two years owing to a supply disruption partly caused by a price dispute with farmers.The 1,200 metric tons per day factory reportedly restarted production last week, processing about 100 tons a day.The Managing Director, […]