By Dipo Olowookere
Construction giant, Julius Berger Nigeria Plc, has announced growing its post-tax profit by 117 percent in the fourth quarter of 2019 to N5.2 billion from N2.4 billion.
In the financial statements released by the firm on Monday to the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), it was disclosed that the pre-tax profit also increased in the period under review when compared with the corresponding period of 2018; N7.4 billion in Q4 2019 in contrast to N4.9 billion in Q4 2018.
However, the revenue generated in the period under review depreciated by 3.3 percent to N72.3 billion from N74.8 billion, while the cost of sales rose to N53.1 billion from N52.5 billion.
In the results briefly analysed by Business Post, it was stated in the Q4 earnings that in 2019, the gross profit dropped to N19.2 billion from N22.4 billion, while marketing expenses sharply increased to N65.3 million from N6.5 million, with administrative expenses declining to N5.5 billion from N16.5 billion.
However, operating profit rose to N8.3 billion from N5.9 billion, while the finance costs were cut down to N366.6 million from N634.7 million.
Julius Berger said its earnings per share increased in the fourth quarter of 2019 to N3.29 from N2.23 in the fourth quarter of 2018.
Adedapo Adesanya