By Dipo Olowookere
The 2018 financial year was not palatable for Skyway Aviation Handling Company (SAHCO) Plc going by the results released by the board some hours ago.
In the previous fiscal year, which ended December 31, 2017, the aviation firm recorded a profit after tax of N217.7 million, but 12 months later, it was a loss after tax of N665.7 million, indicating a decline of N883.4 million or 405.7 percent.
The interesting thing is that this loss recorded by the company came when it improved its total generated revenue in the year under review by N1.2 billion or 23.19 percent to N6.1 billion from nearly N5 billion.
In the same year, according to the analysis by Business Post, SAHCO, which listed its shares on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) nearly three months ago, posted a loss before tax of N302.9 million in contrast to the profit after tax of N125.9 million achieved in 2017.
A further analysis showed that though the gross profit improved in the year to N2.6 billion from N2.3 billion, while the other operating income dropped to N19.4 million from N55.5 million.
This was as the administrative expenses skyrocketed to N2.8 billion from N2.1 billion, while the finance expense dropped to N123.6 million from N151.4 million.
In addition, the earnings per share (EPS) closed at -49 kobo in the period under consideration against 51 kobo a year earlier.
As a result of the poor performance of the company in the 2018 financial year, the board did not propose the payment of dividend to shareholders.
However, the board said despite the loss, it has a reasonable expectation that the company has adequate resources to continue operations for the foreseeable future and has no cause to worry.
