Aviation ground-handling operator, Skyway Aviation Handling Company Plc (SAHCO), has declared a Loss After Tax of N665.649 million for the year ended 2018.
This and other details of the company’s performance are contained in the SAHCO’s financial statements for the year ended 31st December, 2018, posted on the website of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) today.
Key Performance Indices recorded mixed fortunes: The Key Performance Indices (KPI) of SAHCO in the year under review are a mixed bag of positive and negative figures.
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Revenue leapt by 23.19% to N6.136 billion in 2018 from N4.981 billion recorded the year before.
Loss Before Tax was N302.895 million in stark contrast to a Profit Before Tax of N125.901 million recorded in 2017.
The company witnessed a reversal of fortune in its profitability, resulting in a Loss After Tax of N665.649 million in the year under review as against the profit of N217.727 million SAHCO posted in 2017.
The reversal in profitability is hinged on two key factors. First, the company recorded a direct cost of N3.530 billion in 2018 in significant contrast to the N2.657 billion it posted in 2017. This implies that it spent 32.86% or N873 million more on direct cost in 2018 than it did in 2017.
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The increase would have been understandable going by the fact that SAHCO recorded a corresponding increase in its revenue. But what makes this difficult to accept is that the increase in revenue had no impact on the company’s profitability, but even made it to record a loss.
Another factor responsible for the declaration of loss by the company was that its administrative expenses soared by as much as 32.99% from N2.103 billion recorded in 2017 to N2.796 billion posted in 2018.
For these reasons, the Earnings Per Share (EPS) of SAHCO plunged from a positive N0.51 per share in 2017 to a negative –N0.49 in 2018. What this means is that every unit of the company’s shares incurred a loss of -N0.49 in the year under review.
To return to the path of profitability in the current financial year, SAHCO needs to look inwards and cut its expenses significantly.
Recall that SAHCO debuted on the main board of the NSE in April, when it listed 1,353,580,000 ordinary shares priced at N4.65 per share. It currently trades on the floor of the NSE at N4.65 per share.
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