Okomu Oil has released its first quarter (Q1) 2018 results which showed that sales grew by 25% to N7.3 billion when compared with Q1 2017.
However, profit before tax (PBT) grew slower, by 17% to N4.0 billion while owing to a 319bp expansion in the tax rate to 12.7%, profit after tax (PAT) advanced by 13% to N3.5 billion.
Although operating expenses grew by 116% and weighed on earnings, it was not strong enough to completely offset the sales growth and a 1,251bp y/y gross margin expansion to 91%.
During the quarter, palm oil sales of N6.4bn grew by 25% y/y. Rubber sales advanced by 27% y/y to N984m and accounted for 13% of Okomu’s topline. Rubber contribution to sales during the quarter was slightly lower that its contribution to FY 2017 sales because of the faster sales growth of the palm oil business during the quarter (+136% q/q growth for palm oil vs. flat for rubber).
Year to date, Okomu shares have gained 8.6% and have slightly outperformed the broad index which is up 6.6% this year.
