By Ogbuotobo Chuks

The company which has been on the downside of generating profits achieved a boost in its third quarter results for December 31, 2006.This feat has caused a capital appreciation of over 200% in the first quater of 2007.

Turnover rose by N65-million or 44.8 percent to N2.1-billion, as against N1.45-billion recorded in the comparable period of 2005. Profit after tax rose by 76 percent to N137.8 -million compared with loss after tax of N591.92-million in 2005.

The company also engaged in some restructuring which is causing some ripples in the stock exchange. There has been an  acquisition of majority stake by Costain Engineering and Construction (overseas) limited. During the same period the board of directors was also restructured as Mohammed Kaguna replaced Newton Jibunoh as chairman, while Philip Wharton was appointed as the new managing director/chief executive officer.

The restructuring attracted another foreign investor , Shoreline Power Limited which acquired 45 percent stake in the company . As soon as the deal was sealed ,the company’s share price started to rise from N1.95 recorded on September 21, 2006 to N5.47 as at March 28, 2007.

Costain West Africa plc has, before the acquisition, been recording steady losses. In 2005, the company recorded a turnover of N2.216- billion as against N1.262-billion recorded in 2003.In the same period, it recorded a pre-tax loss of N280-million as against N468-million recorded in 2003. Returns on equity or earnings per share increased drastically from 20.9 percent in 2003 to 193.1 percent in 2005, even as its shareholders value dropped from N201-million in 2003 to N145-million in 2005.
Things are however looking bright as the company is set to give investors good value for their money.
 

This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 11th, 2007 at 12:54 pm and is filed under StockMarketNigeria. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Tags: Costain West Africa
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