Transcorp Plc regained momentum in the earnings field in the final quarter which saw it closing after-tax profit of over N34 billion for the full year – more than double the prior year’s profit figure of N16.8 billion.
The final quarter revived from a profit drop to N6.6 billion in the third quarter to deliver over N11 billion after-tax profit for the quarter, which accounted for about one-third of the closing profit for the year.
The company’s financial report for the full year ended December 2023 yet to be audited shows a considerable upturn in sales and a substantial slowdown in costs in the final quarter – that elevated the operating momentum for the conglomerate during the period.
Quarterly sales upturned from less than N46 billion in the third quarter to N66 billion in the final quarter accounting for 34 percent of the turnover of roughly N194 billion in the full year.
Sales revenue growth rate picked up from 37.6 percent in the third quarter to over 71 percent upsurge for the final quarter.
Production cost that grew ahead of sales revenue at 40 percent in the third quarter slowed down to an increase of 29 percent to N24 billion for the fourth quarter – moderating significantly against the 71 percent growth in sales for the quarter.
Even a much bigger cost saving was extracted from administrative expenses that changed course from a high jump of 79 percent to over N9 billion in the third quarter to a drop of almost 40 percent to N4 billion for the final quarter.
There was also a major slowdown in finance costs from an almost 64 percent increase in the third quarter to less than 38 percent increase to about N7 billion in the final quarter.
Accelerated sales revenue with considerable cost savings sums up the facts behind the conglomerate’s final quarter surprise that countered the dismal reading of revenue slowdown with all-around cost increases recorded in the third quarter.
The favourable cost-income combination in the final quarter lifted pre-tax profit more than three times to N29.7 billion for the quarter while a huge tax expense of N18.4 billion left a bottom line of over N11 billion for the quarter – up from a loss of over N2 billion in the same quarter in 2022.
The company’s full-year numbers show that sales revenue grew by 44 percent in the year to slightly below N194 billion, stepping up from the increase of 33.3 per cent to N128 billion at the end of the third quarter.
Production costs maintained a slower third-quarter growth rate of less than 29 percent to close at about N88 billion at the end of the year.
Gross profit sped up from a 37.6 percent increase to over N64 billion at the end of the third quarter to a jump of 59.6 percent to almost N106 billion at full year.
Administrative expenses softened from its revenue-consuming growth of 45.5 percent to N23 billion at the end of the third quarter to an increase of 20 percent to N27 billion at the end of the year.
Reinforced by the cost savings from administrative costs, operating profit strengthened from an increase of 35.6 percent to N42.7 billion at the end of the third quarter to register an outstanding growth of 71.6 percent to over N80 billion at the full year.
Driven by a 140 percent upsurge in net foreign exchange losses on foreign currency borrowings to N9.9 billion, the cost of finance grew by 59.7 percent to N26.4 billion at the end of the year. Balance sheet borrowings were cut from N104.6 billion in the preceding year to over N93 billion in 2023.
The company closed the full-year operations with a pre-tax profit of N55.9 billion, which is an increase of 84.5 percent for the year.
The closing profit of N34 billion for the year is an increase of 102 percent from N16.8 billion in 2022, an upswing from a drop of 29 per cent in 2022.
Transcorp earned 56 kobo per share at the end of the 2023 full-year operations, improving from 19 kobo per share in 2022.
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