Geregu Power’s quarterly profit drops by 28%, trailing forecast

Geregu Power‘s after-tax profit retreated by 27.9 per cent in January through March, relative to the same period of 2024, the latest earnings report of the electricity producer shows.

Details of the report indicated that revenue fell short of projection by 47.8 per cent or N29.1 billion.

The company set itself a net profit target of N11.3 billion for the period, but it turned out that N10.4 billion of that was achieved.

At N31.8 billion, revenue was 37 per cent weaker, with cost of sales eating up 62.2 per cent of that figure. That compares to a year ago when cost of sales gulped 43.7 per cent of revenue.

Geregu Power is majority-owned by Femi Otedola, the chairman of Nigeria’s oldest financial institution First HoldCo, who in October 2022 took it public.

Four months later, it welcomed Afreximbank’s impact development arm Fund for Export Development in Africa to rank of its shareholders, when it took a 5 per cent minority interest in the utility provider.

Net profit margin for the period under review was 32.8 per cent, up from 28.7 per cent.

Profit before tax was up by 40.6 per cent at N13 billion, while profit after tax dropped to N10.4 billion from N14.5 billion.

Total assets grew 7.4 per cent to N263 billion. The stock has depreciated by 0.7 per cent so far this year.

Mr Otedola owns the controlling interest of 78.1 per cent in the company, mostly through Amperion Power Distribution Company Limited.

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Last May, Geregu Power announced an agreement with the German multinational technology conglomerate to more than double its current nameplate capacity to 1,200 megawatts.

The company plans to generate N53.1 billion in revenue this quarter and a net profit of N8.7 billion.

Shareholders’ fund slid to N41.7 billion in the period under review from N52.6 billion a year ago on the back of a drop in retained earnings.