Total Nigeria Plc. has reported a massive decline of 46 percent in its pro t after tax for the year ended 31 December 2017 to ₦8 billion, from ₦11.7 billion in 2016.
The world’s fourth-largest oil and gas company in its annual report for 2017 said that the revenue generated as at December 2017 stood at ₦288 billion in comparison with ₦290 billion in 2016, representing a decline of 0.99 percent.
However, the company stated in the report that the turnover was considered stable and the profit margin recorded was the second highest ever in the company’s his- tory. Its lubricants production capacity increased by 33 percent with the addition of two high-speed filling machines in Koko, Delta State, and Lagos, as well as the solarization of the Lagos blending plant and development of Power Purchase, offers for industrial use.
Its market share in lubricants also increased to 28.1 percent in 2017 from 25.7 percent in 2016.
The report said a final dividend of N14 was proposed for the year ended 31 December 2017 and a general meeting was scheduled for June 2018.
Stanislas Mittelman, chairman of Total Nigeria, said Total commenced the year in a recession (the first in 25 years) with inflation at 18.9 percent and which saw a near 40 percent devaluation of the naira.
He stated that the state of the foreign exchange market had a serious adverse impact on the company’s ability to do business and imposed severe costs on key sectors of the economy, which further cascaded into all areas of the economy.