- May & Baker Posts N605.6m Full-year Pre-tax Profit
May & Baker Nigeria Plc has reported a profit before tax of N605.6m for the full-year ended December 31, 2017.
The health-care firm recorded significant growths in sales and profitability in 2017 as it continued the implementation of its medium-term strategic plan targetted at enhancing shareholders’ value.
In its results filed with the Nigerian Stock Exchange on Thursday, May & Baker recorded improvements in its underlying fundamentals as well as the actual earnings figures.
According to the company, its top-down improvements in margins underlined the increasing efficiency of the company’s operations and management’s commitment to cost efficiency.
The company’s board of directors, thus, recommended the distribution of N196m as cash dividend for the 2017 business year, representing a dividend per share of 20 kobo. The recommended dividend payout for 2017 represents an increase of 233.3 per cent on the payout for the 2016 business year.
May & Baker had distributed N58.8m as cash dividend for the 2016 business year, with shareholders receiving a dividend per share of six kobo.
Highlights of the report showed that turnover rose by 10.39 per cent from N8.47bn in 2016 to N9.35bn in 2017. Gross profit grew by 29.13 per cent to N3.28bn in 2017 as against N2.54bn in 2016.
Operating profit appreciated by 51.04 per cent from N820.87m to N1.24bn in 2017. Profit before tax also rose by 75.07 per cent from N345.94m in 2016 to N605.62m in 2017.
After taxes, net profit stood at N370.87m in 2017, compared with net loss after tax of N41.09m recorded in 2016. Shareholders’ funds also rose by 10.3 per cent from N3.01bn in 2016 to N3.32bn in 2017.
Gross profit margin improved by more than five percentage points to 35.08 per cent in 2017 compared with 29.99 per cent in 2016 while operating margin, which indicates the profitability of the core operations of the company, rose from 9.69 per cent in 2016 to 13.26 per cent in 2017.
Pre-tax profit margin, which underlines the profitability of the company, also increased from 4.09 per cent in 2016 to 6.48 per cent in 2017.
In a statement, the management of the company attributed the performance of the company in 2017 to the success of management’s efforts to harness the potential of recent investments and reduce related costs.
