Presco Plc’s new investment into rubber is aimed at attracting more foreign exchange earnings into Nigeria. This was confirmed by the Presco’s Managing Director, Felix Nwabuko. He also said this will encourage more business opportunities.
Nwabuko, in a statement on Tuesday, explained that the company had cultivated 3,600 hectares in Orhionmwon Local Government of Edo State in order to intensify its operations.
He said the move will reduce the level of dependency on the apex bank, Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) for forex intervention in an interview with Guardian.
Also as part of its expansion drive, Presco Plc, had in April, 2018, said its investment in green energy will boost its corporate earnings and increase returns to shareholders.
Recall that CBN, had on Tuesday, July 17, 2018, injected $210 million into the inter-bank foreign exchange (forex) market. This was confirmed by the apex bank’s acting Director of Corporate Communications Department, Isaac Okorafor, in a statement. The figures restated the determination of the CBN to continue to intervene in the interbank foreign exchange market.
About Presco Plc
Presco is a public limited liability company incorporated on September 24, 1991. Its corporate head office is at the company’s Obaretin Estate near Benin City.
The company is a subsidiary of Siat S.A., a Belgian agro-industrial company specialised in industrial as well as smallholder plantations of tree crops, mainly oil palm and rubber, and allied processing industries such as palm oil mills, palm oil refining/fractionation, soap making and crumb rubber factories.
Presco owns Oil palm plantations of 16,812 hectares of which 12,565 are mature, a palm oil mill with a capacity of 60 tonnes fresh fruit bunches per hour, a refinery/fractionation plant with a capacity of 100 tonnes/day, and a palm kernel crushing plant with a capacity of 60M tonnes/day.
Presco Plc’s first quarter financial results for the period ended March 2018 shows a decrease revenue from N6.59 billion in Q1 2018 when compared to N7.17 billion in Q1 2017. The company also recorded a profit before tax of N3.72 billion in Q1 2018 as against N4.52 billion in the comparative period in 2017, which is a 47% decrease. Profif after tax also witnessed decreased from 2.59 billion in Q1 2018 compared to 3.90 billion in Q1 2017.
Presco Plc is currently at N63.75 in trading session at the floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange. Year to date the stock is down 13.07%.
