Economy
Oando Cuts Debt Levels by 8%, Raises PAT by 26% in Q3
By Modupe Gbadeyanka
The management of Oando Plc under the leadership of Mr Wale Tinubu has continued to show that he has the ability to turnaround fortunes of the leading indigenous energy group in Nigeria.
The energy firm, listed both on the Nigerian and Johannesburg Stock Exchange, announced its unaudited results for the nine months period ended September 30, 2019 and from the highlights, it declared a 26 percent rise in profit after tax, which went up to N13.1 billion from N10.4 billion despite the total generated revenue going down by 18 percent to N413.8 billion from N505.1 billion, with the operating profit going down by 31 percent to N19.8 billion from N28.7 billion.
However, due to the strategies mapped out by the board and management, Oando was able to reduce its total borrowings by 8 percent to N193.1 billion from N210.9 billion, while the production increased by 8 percent to 43,045boe/day from 40,039boe/day.
This was driven by an 11 percent increase in natural gas production (from 120,047mcf/day YTD September 2018 to 133,415mcf/day YTD September 2019) and an 8 percent increase in crude oil production (from 16,850bbls/day YTD September 2018 to 18,147bbls/day YTD September 2019).
In YTD September 2019, Oando Trading traded approximately 9.3 million barrels of crude oil under various contracts with the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and delivered 317,649MT of refined products.
It incurred capital expenditure of $84.3 million in the nine months of 2019 compared with $59.3 million in same period in 2018. This consists of $77.3 million at OMLs 60 to 63, $5.6 million at OML 56, and $1.4 million on other assets.
During the year, the company, in conjunction with its JV partners, aggressively ramped up its drilling program towards increasing oil revenue and meeting gas obligations and as at September 2019, it has successfully completed a side track at OML 56, shoring up net production by nearly 1,500bbls/day, whilst also drilling and completing five wells across three rig lines at its joint venture operations on OMLs 60-63.
Recall that last month, Oando announced that the NNPC/NAOC/OANDO Joint Venture (of which Oando Energy Resources [OER] holds a 20 percent working interest) had made a significant gas and condensate find in the deeper sequences of the Obiafu-Obrikom fields in OML 61, onshore Niger Delta.
Preliminary evaluation indicates that the find amounts to about 1 trillion cubic feet of gas and 60 million barrels of associated condensate in the deep drilled sequences.
The well can deliver in excess of 100 million standard cubic feet/day of gas and 3,000 barrels/day of associated condensates. The discovery is part of a drilling campaign planned by the Joint Venture aimed at exploring near-field and deep pool opportunities as immediate time to market opportunities.
The JV started gas and condensate production from the Obiafu-41 discovery just 3 weeks after completion and the gas from this discovery will largely be channelled to the domestic market in order to feed the power sector.
Oando said the full impact of this discovery will be determined and communicated to the market on conclusion of the next annual independent reserves and resources evaluation.
Commenting on the results, Mr Tinubu said, “In the period under review, we made substantial progress on our top priority of operational growth and recorded an 8 percent increase in hydrocarbon production.
‘In conjunction with our partners, we successfully completed an ambitious 6-well drilling program, the results of which have been positive, and are particularly excited about the discovery of a significant gas and condensate find at a field in OML 61 of our Joint Venture.
“This has had a major impact on our reserves and consequently future cash flows. Production has since commenced in October on the completed wells, and the gas will largely be channelled to feed the nation’s power sector through our Joint Venture’s Okpai Power plant, Nigeria’s first independent power plant.
“In addition, we achieved an 8 percent reduction in our debt levels, whilst growing free cash flows. Over the last quarter of the year, our focus will be on the completion of our drilling program as well as tie-in of the new discoveries.”
By Adedapo Adesanya
Five securities pulled down the NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange by 1.72 per cent on Friday, August 14, cutting the market capitalisation by N47.04 billion to N2.689 trillion from N2.727 trillion, and slicing the NASD Security Index (NSI) by 78.37 points to 4,465.83 from 4,532.03 points.
11 Plc led the price decliners yesterday after its price went down by N15.03 to N230.00 per share from N245.03 per share. MRS Oil Plc weakened by N13.20 to N118.80 per unit from N132.00 per unit, Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS) Plc slid by N10.30 to N99.46 per share from N109.76 per share, Okitipupa Plc fell by N6.99 to N270.01 per unit from N277.00 per unit, and Afriland Properties Plc dipped by N2.00 to N20.00 per share from N22.00 per share.
Business Post reports that the OTC securities exchange recorded four gainers during the session, led by FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc, which appreciated by N9.85 to N169.85 per unit from N160.00 per unit. IPWA Plc gained 70 Kobo to close at N10.41 per share versus N9.71 per share, Industrial and General Insurance (IGI) Plc rose by 4 Kobo to 54 Kobo per unit from 50 Kobo per unit, and Geo-Fluids Plc improved by 1 Kobo to N2.06 per share from N2.05 per share.
The volume of trades soared by 64.8 per cent to 3.2 million units from the previous session’s 1.9 million units, the value of transactions jumped by 78.2 per cent to N375.7 million from N210.8 million, and the number of deals surged by 35.3 per cent to 46 deals from 34 deals.
Great Nigeria Insurance (GNI) Plc was the most traded stock by value on a year-to-date basis, with 3.4 billion units valued at N8.4 billion, followed by Infrastructure Credit Guarantee (Infracredit) Plc with 2.3 billion units sold for N6.5 billion, and CSCS Plc with 79.0 million units exchanged for N5.7 billion.
GNI Plc also closed the day as the most traded stock by volume on a year-to-date basis, with 3.4 billion units worth N8.4 billion, followed by Infracredit Plc with 2.3 billion units transacted for N6.5 billion, and Resourcery Plc with 1.1 billion units traded for N415.7 million.
By Dipo Olowookere
The dominance of the bears on the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited was consolidated on Friday, after further inflicting an 0.12 per cent loss at the close of trading activity.
All the key sectors of the local stock market turned red yesterday as a result of sustained profit-taking, though the industrial goods space was flat.
The insurance counter lost 1.49 per cent, the energy index shed 0.63 per cent, the consumer goods segment declined by 0.46 per cent, and the banking sector tumbled by 0.23 per cent.
Consequently, the All-Share Index (ASI) retreated by 398.18 points to 242,619.20 points from 243,017.38 points, and the market capitalisation receded by N257 billion to N156.624 trillion from N156.881 trillion.
Fortis Global Insurance lost 9.31 per cent to trade at N2.63, Omatek depreciated by 9.04 per cent to N1.51, John Holt slipped by 9.00 per cent to N9.10, RT Briscoe slumped by 7.94 per cent to N11.60, and Dangote Sugar went down by 7.79 per cent to N64.55.
But International Energy Insurance gained 9.92 per cent to sell for N5.32, Trans-Nationwide Express appreciated by 9.65 per cent to N2.84, Guinea Insurance improved by 6.67 per cent to 80 Kobo, Regency Alliance grew by 6.25 per cent to 85 Kobo, and Japaul jumped by 5.36 per cent to N2.95.
The market breadth index remained negative, with 30 price losers and 21 price gainers, indicating weak investor sentiment.
The level of activity contracted yesterday, with the trading volume, value, and number of deals down by 66.67 per cent, 10.65 per cent, and 5.60 per cent, respectively.
This was because market participants transacted 1.4 billion shares worth N45.3 billion in 39,134 deals during the session compared with the 4.2 billion shares valued at n50.7 billion traded in 41,454 deals on Thursday.
Fortis Global Insurance was the most active equity for the day, with a turnover of 874.1 million units valued at N2.4 billion, Cornerstone Insurance sold 100.3 million units worth N506.5 million, Universal Insurance traded 56.7 million units for N44.5 million, Sterling Holdings exchanged 53.3 million units worth N402.9 million, and MTN Nigeria transacted 44.6 million units valued at N31.4 billion.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Naira maintained stability against the United States Dollar in the different segments of the foreign exchange (FX) market on Friday, August 14, according to data obtained by Business Post.
At the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM), the local currency remained unchanged at N1,357.65/$1, but lost N6.05 against the Pound Sterling to trade at N1,840.10 versus the previous session’s N1,834.05/£1, and depreciated against the Euro by N4.70 to sell for N1,571.70/€1 compared with the preceding day’s N1,567.00/€1.
At the black market, the Nigerian currency traded flat against the Dollar at N1,395/$1, but gained N3 at the GTBank forex desk to quote at N1,364/$1 versus Thursday’s exchange rate of N1,367/$1.
Data from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) showed that interbank FX transactions surged by 51.2 per cent to $119.594 million from $79.097 million. These transactions were executed in 137 deals, higher than the 98 deals recorded a day earlier.
FX inflows from exporters, remittances and other sources, alongside demand from importers and individuals requiring Dollars, continue to shape market conditions.
Meanwhile, the cryptocurrency market recovered yesterday after experiencing a downturn in the previous sessions following reports that index provider MSCI has proposed new “non-operating company” screens for its Global Investable Market Indexes. Although the framework does not explicitly target cryptocurrency, it evaluates whether a company’s core operating assets constitute more than 50 per cent of its total holdings.
Heavy digital asset treasury adopters, including Strategy and Metaplanet, fail the proposed criteria and face potential removal during upcoming index rebalancings. While inclusion in major equity benchmarks previously allowed passive index funds and ETFs to automatically acquire these stocks, their removal could trigger forced institutional selling.
Dogecoin (DOGE) grew by 0.7 per cent to $0.07, Binance Coin (BNB) expanded by 0.6 per cent to $611.34, Ethereum (ETH) added 0.4 per cent to trade at $1,879.65, and Bitcoin (BTC) increased by 0.2 per cent to $63,045.87, with Ripple (XRP), the US Dollar Tether (USDT), and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) flat at $1.00, respectively.
But Cardano (ADA) lost 1.2 per cent to trade at $0.1795, TRON (TRX) shed 0.4 per cent to finish at $0.3323, and Solana (SOL) declined by 0.2 per cent to $75.60.
