Eterna Plc reported its 2023 Q3 results showing pre-tax profits grew by 547.46% year on year, reaching N2.104 billion.
Key highlights Q3 2023 vs Q3 2022
- Revenue: N54.034 billion +55.64% YoY
- Cost of sales: N49.316 billion +51.12% YoY
- Gross Profit: N4.719 billion +126.33% YoY
- Selling and distribution expenses: N85.032 million -17.70% YoY
- Administrative expenses: N2.443 billion +56.99% YoY
- Operating profit/(loss): N2.205 billion+356.75% YoY
- Net foreign exchange gain: N168.9 million
- Finance cost: N269.877 million +65.18% YoY
- Profit for the period: N1.310 billion +765.04% YoY
- Earnings per share: N1.00 +733.33% YoY
- Cash and bank balances: N7.885 billion -29.34%.
- Total Assets: N70.388 billion +30.37%
- Short-term borrowings: N42.412 billion +58.04%
- Retained earnings: N1.905 billion –71.49%
Insights: Eterna’s significant growth in pre-tax profit is primarily attributed to the increase in revenue, which is driven by growth in the fuel and lubricant segments
- Cost of sales grew slower than revenue and that contributed to a comfortable 126.33% growth in gross profit.
- The high cost of fuel-to-fuel revenue ratio, around 93%, is a concern. This suggests that a significant portion of the company’s revenue is being used to cover fuel costs.
- Eterna experienced both a net foreign exchange gain of N168.9 million in Q3 and a foreign exchange loss of N9.622 billion in Q2.
- These fluctuations in foreign exchange gains and losses have had a significant impact on the company’s financial performance. The foreign exchange loss in Q2 appears to have contributed to the overall 9M pre-tax loss of N3.428 billion, despite the 765.04% growth in post-tax profit in Q3.