Chemical and Allied Products Plc (CAP), a paints and coatings company announced its unaudited results for the period ended 31 March 2021, which saw a revenue of N2.1 billion.
It was 9.5 percent lower than what was obtained in the first quarter of 2020. The company also recorded a gross profit of N703 million, with a gross margin of 33.5%.
Operating expenses were better managed with open/sales of 23.3%, an improvement of 252 basis points from 25.8% in Q1 2020.
Profit Before Tax (PBT) was N299m, with a PBT margin of 14.3% while Profit after Tax of N203m, with a PAT margin of 9.7%.
The company account indicates a cash of N5.7bn of which N1.4bn is expected to be distributed as dividends to shareholders in June 2021
Commenting on the performance, Managing Director, David Wright said: “In the first quarter of 2021, we saw the biggest impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our business. Increased global demand for chemicals driven by the economic rebound in Asia and feedstock challenges, with several suppliers declaring Force Majeure resulted in a global shortage of raw materials.
“This significantly impacted product availability in the first quarter of the year. In addition, there was a scarcity premium placed on all available raw materials, which eroded gross margin across various product lines.”