The first half of this year was not good for Total Nigeria Plc as the energy company recorded a loss of N537.2 million in the period ended June 30, 2020.
According to reports, in the corresponding period of last year, the organisation declared a profit after tax of N130.0 million.
The major reason for this loss was because of the poor performance of the company in the second quarter of this year, which was largely impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
A quick review of the financial statements of the firm indicated that the revenue generated in the first six months of the year went down to N106.7 billion from N150.8 billion.
Further analysis showed that the turnover from the sale of petroleum products decreased to N83.7 billion from N123.9 billion, while revenue from lubricants and others reduced to N23.0 billion from N26.9 billion.
For the cost of sales, the company recorded a decline to N94.3 billion from N134.1 billion, while the gross profit plunged to N12.4 billion from N16.7 billion.
A look at the other income showed that in H1 2020, it stood at N779.4 million as against N1.1 billion in H1 2019, while the other expenses were N241.7 billion versus N0 in the same period of last year.
Also, the selling and distribution cost reduced to N1.7 billion from N2.2 billion, while the administrative expenses rose slightly to N11.9 billion from N11.3 billion.
In the first six months of this year, Total Nigeria said it had an operating loss of N716.8 million in contrast to the operating profit of N3.9 billion in the same period of last year.
However, the finance income increased by over 900 per cent to N2.2 billion from N208.4 million as a result of the N2.0 billion received from the petroleum subsidy fund in the period, which was not earned in the corresponding period of 2019.
The finance costs reduced to N2.0 billion from N4.0 billion, while the net finance income stood at N192.9 million versus the negative N3.7 billion of last year.
