Dipo Olowookere
By Dipo Olowookere
A leading Nigerian conglomerate, Transnational Corporation of Nigeria Plc (Transcorp), has delivered an impressive performance for the first quarter of 2017, which ended March 31.
The firm, in the financial statements released recently, recorded a rise in its earnings by 20 percent from N13.2 billion at March 31, 2016 to N15.8 billion in the corresponding period of 2017.
Furthermore, the company saw an increase in its gross profit, which moved from N5.91 billion in the first quarter of 2016 to N6.94 billion in the first quarter of 2017, representing a growth of 17 percent, while its operating profit progressed by 30 percent in the period under review; N4.23 billion from N3.25 billion in Q1 2016.
Similarly, its net finance cost stood at N2.81 billion compared to N1.52 billion in Q1 2016 and its tax within the period was N238 million in Q1 2017 versus N524 million in Q1 2016.
It was also revealed that the company’s pre-tax profit stood at N1.73 billion in the first quarter of 2017 in contrast to N1.72 billion in the corresponding period of 2016, while its post-tax profit was N1.49 billion at the end of Q1 2017 compared with N1.21 billion in Q1 2016, indicating an increase by 24 percent.
The financial statements disclosed that the total comprehensive income of Transcorp stood at N2.1 billion in Q1 2017 against N1.1 billion in Q1 2016, representing 92 percent rise.
Similarly, the total assets of the firm stood at N244.87 billion from N232 billion as at December 31, 2016, while the shareholders fund moved from N86 billion as at December 31, 2016 to N88.56 billion as at March 31, 2017.
Commenting on the result, President and Chief Executive Officer of Transcorp Plc, Mr Emmanuel Nnorom stated that, “Transcorp’s resilient performance is drawn from the diversity of our various business offerings.
“The closure of the Abuja Airport negatively affected occupancy for our hotel business, however this was buoyed by top line Year-on-Year growth in our power business following improvements in gas supply.
“We expect to recover the lost ground brought on by the Abuja airport closure in Q2 2017. The reopening of the airport will pave the way for aggressive marketing that will improve traffic and occupancy at Transcorp Hotels.
“In addition we expect to see continued improvement in our power sector revenue as gas supply stabilises following the increased capacity of our plant arising from the recent commissioning of Gas Turbine 15.”
