22 October 2013, Lagos – Forte Oil Plc (formerly African Petroleum Plc), one of Nigeria’s foremost indigenous major marketer of refined petroleum products has declared profit before tax of N3.2 billion for the nine months ended September 30, 2013, showing an increase of 258 per cent above N900 million in the corresponding period of 2012.
The unaudited results showed a revenue of N92 billion, up by 29 per cent from N71 billion in 2012. However, cost-saving measures, which saw financing cost reduce from N1.2 billion to N465 million among others, boosted the bottom line by over 258 per cent.
As a result, profit after tax soared by 317 per cent from N700 million to N2.7 billion, while earnings per share rose to N2.54 per share, from N0.61 the previous year.
Commenting on the performance, Group Chief Executive Officer of Forte Oil, Mr. Akin Akinfemiwa, said: “Our strong performance is a testimony of our clear focus on our business transformation initiatives which include solid corporate governance and business ethics, enhanced safety health and environmental practices across all business lines and superior customer service delivery. We remain committed to our mission of building a long-term successful company; boosting investor confidence by making Forte Oil Plc the investment of choice in Nigeria and globally; and creating and sustaining robust returns to our shareholders.”
Explaining further, the Group Chief Financial Officer of the company, Mr. Julius Omodayo-Owotuga, said: “With a return on equity of over 26 per cent and a 317 per cent increase in profit after tax, it is clearly a new dawn at Forte Oil Plc as we consolidate the gains of our business restructuring efforts.
“Our financial and overall business performance as at end of Q3 is a clear demonstration that Forte Oil is on a clear path to dominate our primary market-the downstream petroleum marketing sector.
“We shall continue to pursue initiatives that will spur business growth and efficiency, liquidity management and aggressive diversification into related high margin business that would continue to increase shareholder value such as our recent acquisition of the 414 MW Geregu Power Generation Plant in Kogi State.”
– This Day