By Yemie Adeoye
NIPCO Plc has announced     its operating     results for the financial year ended December 31, 2008 showing impressible performance in all business indices even in spite of the challenging economic terrain plaguing the downstream sector.

The company recorded turnover of N43.501 billion during the period under review representing 8.19 per cent increase over N40.209 billion posted in the same period in 2007.

Profit before tax rose
from N2.091 billion in 2007 to N 2.147 billion in 2008 while profit after tax grew from N1.794 billion in 2007 to N 1.837 billion in 2008 financial year.

Shareholders’ fund grew by 24 per cent from N 5.676 billion in 2007 to N 7.040 billion in 2008 indicating a physical monetary difference of N1.386 billion.

The result which has been presented to the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) and dispatched to the shareholders is expected to be deliberated upon by the company’s investors at its 5th  Annual General Meeting scheduled for Abuja on Tuesday, May 26, 2009.

At the meeting, the recommendations of the board of directors to offer a 225 kobo dividends over the N2.00 paid in 2007 to all stakeholders whose names appear in the company’s register of members at the close of business on 1st May 2009 would be deliberated upon.

A peep into the company’s balance sheet also shows that the net asset per share grew from  3.025 kobo  to 3.752 kobo representing a percentage increase of 24.03 and a monetary difference of 727.00 kobo.|

The moderate growth in the financials of the company is in fulfillment of the assurances of the Board and Management to continuously steer the ship of the organisation which most stakeholders have described as one of the fastest growing downstream operators in the nation’s  oil and gas industry, in the right direction.

The company which began operation in July 2004 has not only been a reference point in the marketing of white products but has also ventured into gas marketing with the recent  commissioning of its Liquefied Petroleum  Gas (LPG) plant on Dockyard Road, Apapa, Lagos.

The plant with a storage capacity of 5000MT and obviously the biggest in the country, is backed by enormous transport infrastructure comprising among others, 30 bulk tankers to convey products from the depot to all nooks and crannies of the nation.

Preliminary reports have confirmed that the friendly pricing structure of the company is already having a positive effect on domestic gas prices across the country even as accolades are pouring in from local gas marketers whose bottling plants are the major beneficiaries.

The overall improved business performance showed strong signs of growth especially in the area of turnover but the thinning profit in the downstream sector is gradually affecting total profit. Management is however, engaged in series of diversification by way of increasing avenue for business so that its esteemed investors will be assured of bumper harvest in the company as exemplified in its operations which the populace had acknowledged on several occasions.