By Dipo Olowookere
Despite acquiring a 100 percent stake in Telluria Limited in mid-2019, Ellah Lakes Plc was unable to generate any revenue in the first nine months of its present financial year.
Ellah Lakes, a company established in 1980 and has its headquarters in Edo State, specialises in fish farming.
On Tuesday, the financial statements of the firm for the third quarter of the year ended April 30, 2020, were released by the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) and a brief analysis of the books by Business Post showed that no revenue was generated during the period.
However, the coy had N33,000 as other income in the third quarter of the year and this was from the gain on foreign exchange (Forex). But in the same period of last year, nothing was recorded by the company under this category.
Also, in Q3 of 2020, according to the organisation, the administrative costs were N1.1 million and on a year-to-date note, it stood at N12.2 million. In the same period of last year, nothing was recorded.
In addition, the personnel expenses stood at N23.5 million in Q3 2020 and for the year so far, the costs have hit N91.8 million. In Q3 of 2019, Ellah Lakes recorded nothing for the category of its financial report.
The company said in the third quarter of this year, it has recorded an operating loss of N24.8 million and on a year-to-date level, the operating loss stood at N100.5 million.
In the results, the firm said the value of its raw materials as at the close business of April 30, 2020, was N40.3 million versus N42.0 million as of April 20, 2019, while borrowings, majorly a term loan, remained flat at N597.0 million.
Recall that in January 2019, the management of Ellah Lakes promised to conclude its restructuring exercise before the end of March 31, 2019.
Before then, at a board meeting held on November 29, 2018, the arm of the company approved a full and final settlement of the N589.5 million debt owed to Chief J.W. Ellah Sons & Company Limited.
Last June, the company, shortly after acquiring Telluria Limited, listed additional 1.888 billion ordinary shares on the NSE, raising its total issued and fully paid-up shares from 120 million units to 2 billion units.
Ellah Lakes, after the transaction, announced a Director in Telluria, Mr Chuka Mordi, as its new Managing Director effective June 12, 2019, taking over from Mr Frank Ellah, founder of Ellah Lakes, who moved on to new pursuits.
In September 2019, the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of Ellah Lakes, Mr Wole Onasanya, resigned from the position “to pursue other opportunities within the Nigerian financial services sector.”
Share of Ellah Lakes, which have the Below Listing Standard (BLS) mark, have remained flat at N2.45 per unit.
Adedapo Adesanya