Oando Posts N3.5bn After-tax Profit

• Oando Posts N3.5bn After-tax Profit

Oando plc, an indigenous energy group, has reported a profit after tax of N3.5bn in the 2016 financial year, showing an increase of 107 per cent from the loss recorded in 2015.

The group’s turnover increased by 49 per cent to N569bn from N382bn in 2015, while earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation increased by 51 per cent to N71bn.

The Group Chief Executive Office, Oando, Mr. Wale Tinubu, was quoted as saying, “2016 saw the country plunge into a recession, the first in over two decades, besieged with liquidity constraints, devaluation of the naira and a slump in oil earnings due to low oil prices intensified by the insurgency in the Niger Delta.

“We were proactive in the timely execution of our restructuring programme of growth in our upstream division; deleverage, through divestments resulting in a net debt reduction of N125bn; and profitability by focusing on dollar-denominated earnings.”

He said in the upstream sector, the group witnessed a decline in production while 2P reserves increased from 445 million barrels of oil equivalent in 2015 to 469mmboe.

Tinubu said, “We are hopeful that the Federal Government will establish a long-term resolution to the conflict in the Niger Delta which will positively impact the oil and gas industry, consequently ramping up our daily production.”