Modupe Gbadeyanka
By Modupe Gbadeyanka
Foremost construction firm in Nigeria, Julius Berger Plc, seems to be struggling to survive the harsh economic environment it operated in last year.
In 2016, some companies in Nigeria had to deal with economic recession the country was battling with, especially with the foreign exchange crisis, which pushed the Naira to over N500 per Dollar against about less than N200 it traded a year before.
Few companies which could not survived these unfavourable market fundamentals packed up or simply relocated to other climes.
Julius Berger Plc, which chose to withstand the tide, suffered a loss of N3.82 billion during the year.
In its financial statements posted on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) website, the company said its loss after tax for 2016 leaped from N2.44 billion recorded in 2015 to N3.82 billion a year after, representing an increase of 56 percent.
However, in the period under review, the firm said it grossed N139 billion as revenue in contrast to NN133.8 billion it posted in 2015.
Business Post gathered from the audited results that Julius Berger’s cost of sales as at December 31, 2016, stood at N84.8 billion compared with N91.5 billion it posted a year earlier.
Due to this, the company is not proposing any dividend to its shareholders.
Meanwhile, Julius Berger said it would hold Annual General Meeting (AGM) on Thursday, June 15, 2017.
