May & Baker Grows Post-Tax Profit by 51% in Six Months

By Dipo Olowookere

In the first six months of this year, May & Baker Plc increased its profit after tax by 51 per cent to N438.9 million from N290.8 million in the same period of last year.

Also, the pharmaceutical firm improved its pre-tax profit to N645.4 million from N427.7 million in the corresponding period of 2019.

In the period under review, the revenue generated by the company was flat at N4.1 billion, though there was a slight improvement in the turnover of the second quarter of the year and was largely boosted by its pharmaceuticals segment, which involves the production and sale of human pharmaceuticals and human vaccines.

For the cost of sales, there was a slight reduction to N2.5 billion from N2.7 billion, while the gross profit increased to N1.6 billion from N1.3 billion.

In the period being reviewed, the distribution, sales and marketing expenses increased to N618.7 million from N513.3 million, while the administrative costs dropped to N265.7 million from N362.5 million.

In the half-year ended June 30, 2020, May & Baker said it had an operating profit of N687.8 million compared with N504.7 million in the same period of 2019.

The company said further that it had an interest income of N6.9 million in Hi 2020 in contrast to N28.8 million, attributing the significant decline to lower interest earned on short term investment (fixed deposits) with commercial banks in the country as a result of low yield environment.

In the period, the finance costs dropped to N41.3 million from N109.9 million as a result of lower interest paid on bank loans and overdrafts.