By Teliat Sule
May 6, 2024
Nigerias agro-allied giant based in Edo State, Presco Nigeria Plc, has set a new record as the firm realised N32. 41 billion as profit after tax (PAT) in 2023, highest in decades.
Supported by favourable prices at the domestic market, Presco generated N102.42 billion as revenue, primarily from the sales of crude and refined products, N101.88 billion; mill-by products, N29.74 million, and sales of fresh fruit bunches, N510.61 million in 2023.
Presco is a fully-integrated agro-industrial establishment with oil palm plantations, palm oil mill, palm kernel crushing plant and vegetable oil refining and fractionation plant in Edo State. It also has an olein and stearin packaging plant and a biogas plant to treat its palm oil mill effluent. It is the first of its kind in West Africa.
The agro-allied firm specialises in the cultivation of oil palm and in the extraction, refining and fractionation of crude palm oil into finished products.
This compares to N83.03 billion that was generated in 2022 as revenue primarily from the sales of crude and refined products, N80.99 billion, mill-by products, N4.29 million, and sales of fresh fruit bunches N38.70 million.
In terms of revenue generation by geographical markets, Presco generated all its revenue from the Nigerian market in 2023. However, in 2022, its revenue comprised N78.95 billion that was made from the Nigerian market, and N2.08 billion that it generated from exports.
In an exclusive interview with the Nigerian Observer, Felix Nwabuko, Group Managing Director of Presco Plc, attributed the success story of the company to past investment decisions and size which are beginning to have multiplier effects on the performance of the company.
We are not doing anything differently as in to say there is some trick in the box that you go and pull out. I would like everybody to understand that Presco started business in 1991. If you have the benefit of the history, you will see what was the state of Presco from then to a certain point in time and when it did start to go up and then begin to have multiplier effects. What you are seeing now is the multiplying effect of the benefits of hard work that has been consistently put in previous years. Thats what you are seeing, Nwabuko said.
The other important thing is, you must understand what is important in your business to drive growth and success. In this business, size is important; expertise is important. So, every additional expansion in Presco today will bring more than normal returns by reason of the fundamentals that are on ground, as long as you continue to apply expert management techniques to it. This is why the government needs to encourage new entrants because they also must go through that process that Presco went through from 1991 through all these years. So, it is simply the outcome of consistently doing the right thing over a long period, he added.
Reflecting the recent market dynamics, the cost of sales jumped by 20.4 percent to N37.4 billion, up from N31.1 billion in the previous year. Operating profit before finance cost and finance income rose by three digits to N59.14 billion, up from N28.27 billion in 2022.
Profit before tax stood at N50.01 billion in 2023 as against N19.81 billion in the previous year.
Tax payable in the year increased by 152.8 percent to N17.15 billion in 2023 in contrast to N6.78 billion in the year before.
Profit after tax rose to N32.86 billion in 2023 compared to N13.03 billion in 2022.
Earnings per share (basic) rose to 3,286 kobo in 2023 up from 1,303 kobo in 2022.
Prescos total assets rose to N170.32 billion in 2023 up from N132.86 billion in 2022, amounting to an increase of 28.5 percent. Shareholders funds rose by 67.3 percent to N57.16 billion last year, compared to N34.16 billion in 2022.
Presco Group made donations worth N142.74 million in 2023, higher than N58.24 billion donated in 2022. Some of its beneficiaries include the flagship Alaghodaro Economic Summit, the Oba of Benin Coronation Anniversary, Manufacturers Association of Nigeria, among others.
Just recently, the firm announced the strengthening of its board of directors with the appointment of Rasheed Sarumi as chairman, Titi Osuntoki as an independent non-executive director and Abdul Bello as a non-executive director.
By Edward Oseghe
May 18, 2024
By Edward Oseghe
May 18, 2024
By Joe Ajaero
May 18, 2024
May 18, 2024 at 06:00 AM
March 12, 2024 at 09:21 AM
The Nigerian Observer is a daily newspaper published in Benin City, Edo State, Nigeria, since 1968 by the Bendel Newspapers Company Limited (BNCL) and is owned by the Edo State Government
Subscribe our newsletter for latest world news. Let''s stay updated!
© 2024 Nigerian Observer “ All Right Reserved.