By NKIRUKA NNOROM
Japaul Oil & Maritime ServicesPlchas recorded a gross profit of N5.9 billion for the year, 2013 from N4.99 billion recorded in 2012, an increase of 20.4 per cent.

The company’s turnover increased to N13.02 billion in the review period, up 6.03 per cent from N12.28 billion recorded in 2012, while the group turnover stood at N8.03 billion in 2013 from N7.24 billion in 2012.

The company’s finance charges had during the thrird quarter ended September 2004 risen by 71 percent to N935.149 million from N546.760 million posted in the same period in 2012.

This is despite the assurance by the Managing Director, Mr. Paul Jegede,  to shareholders at the 2013 Annual General  Meeting, AGM, that its investment in the acquisition of vessels, oil and gas equipment and other machinery would help it return to profitability during the year.

According to him, “Our continued acquisition of new assets in terms of vessels, oil and gas equipment, dredgers etc, were geared towards our company positioning for the future and healthy competition in the oil and gas and maritime industries”.

The company’s financials had shown a return to profitability with the profit after tax growing to N239.7 million for the financial year ended December 31, 2013, from a loss after tax of N6.7 billion recorded in the same period of 2012.

The company also posted loss after tax of N490.61 for its third quarter ended September 30, 2014 following the increasing cost of financing bank debts on its operations

This stood for 201.1 percent decrease over N485.500 million profit after tax achieved in the equivalent period in 2013.

It also maintained the positive trend in Q1 2014 to March 2014, recording a turnover of N3.219 billion, a gross profit of N1.779 billion, a profit before tax of N246.4 million and a profit after tax of N223.4 million, but the third quarter under review is generally a reversal as shown by the result posted on the Nigerian Stock Exchange, NSE, website.

The company recorded loss after tax of N490.610 million in the period under review as against N485.500 million profit in quarter one in 2013, representing 210.1 percent decrease. The company’s turnover at N8.29 billion was 13.7 percent decrease over N9.61 billion recorded in 2013.

However, the cost of sales improved slightly to N4.49 billion compared to N4.52 billion in the same period in 2013, while the general administrative cost declined to N3.17 billion as against N3.42 billion in the same quarter in 2013.

Japaul is into the business of oil & gas servicing in the area of maritime operations, dredging services, ship building and repairs, road transportation & logistics and Flowlines and Pipelines.

Japaul presently has Subsidiaries which are Japaul Gulf Electromechanical LLC (UAE), Japaul Trading Company (Nigeria) and Japaul LLC (USA). ‘