Total Nigeria Rewards Shareholders with N4.8b Dividend Despite Weak Results

By Modupe Gbadeyanka

Despite recording shortfall in its financial statements for the full year 2017, the board of Total Nigeria Plc has announced the payment of dividend to its shareholders.

The oil giant, in its earnings details released to the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) last week, disclosed that it would pay a total of N4.75 billion to its shareholders, representing N14 per 50 kobo ordinary share subject to appropriate withholding tax.

The board of Total Nigeria further said the approval of the dividend would be paid to shareholders whose names appear in the Register of Members as at the close of business on March 16, 2018.

A look into the company’s financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2017, showed that its revenue for the period went down to N288.06 billion from N290.95 billion in 2016, while its cost of sales went up to N258.767 billion from N241.85 billion in the corresponding period of 2016.

Furthermore, the firm’s total asset depreciated by N107.98 billion, while total liabilities also declined to N79.76 billion, with the shareholders’ fund growing by 20 percent to N28.23 billion as against N23.57 billion.

In addition, Total Nigeria recorded a shortfall in its gross profit, which declined to N29.3 billion from N49.1 billion.

Also, its profit before tax went down to N11.80 billion in the period under review from N20.35 billion, while the profit after tax depreciated to N8.02 billion from N14.80 billion.

This led the earnings per share of the company to go down by 45.8 percent to N23.62 in 2017 from N43.58 in 2016.

Commenting on the financial statements, Chairman of Total Nigeria Plc, Mr Stanislas Mittelman, disclosed that despite economic recession in the country and its consequent contraction of the downstream market, the company’s turnover was stable at N288 billion with the profit at N8 billion, the “second highest result ever in the history of Total Nigeria Plc.”