SEPLAT – Improved topline performance can be traced to the 60.52% increase in oil prices from USD60.76/bbl to USD97.53/bbl in the period, as production only grew marginally. On the other hand, gas production volume declined by 5.79% due to mechanical challenges at the Oben gas plant which so far has been resolved. Unexpectedly, earnings declined compared to Q1:2021 owing to the 1914.75%YoY increase in tax as the company took advantage of the higher profit before tax to pay off some of their deferred tax liabilities which accounted for c.72% of tax posted in the income statement.
TOTAL – Better sales volume in the corporate and aviation segment alongside increase in prices of deregulated petroleum products resulted to improvement in overall sales. The segment now accounts for 47% of total revenue from 30% in Q1:2021 . Also, almost double the profit realized in Q1:2021 was achieved in Q1:2022. However, net margin only rose slightly by 2bps to 4.47% in the quarter owing to an increase in effective interest rate to 1.55% from 1.11% in the quarter.
CONOIL – Despite an uptick in white product prices, CONOIL’s revenue has failed to surpass last quarter’s performance compared to some of its listed peers. We presume that this is more of a volume problem than price as the company has confirmed the closure of some of its service outlets due to poor infrastructure and maintenance which can be observed in the declining PPE. The company’s property, plant, and equipment (PPE) assets now at NGN1.87bn has dropped from NGN3.07bn recorded in 2019FY. Nevertheless, net profit improved by 31.44%YoY in the period owing to better cost management, as cost-to-sales reduced to 89.13% from 92.88%% obtained in Q1:2021.
ETERNA – Topline performance grew significantly in the period by 86.40%YoY mostly due to the 92.93%YoY increase in liquid fuel sales which accounted for 76.00% of revenue realized in the quarter. The lubricant segment also recorded growth of 27.18%YoY settling at NGN3.76bn in Q1:2022 (vs NGN2.96bn in Q1:2021). Profit after tax increased by 244.84%YoY benefiting from a lower effective interest rates of 6% from 8% obtained in the corresponding period last year.
