Recently, major downstream player, TOTAL (“the company or the firm”) released its audited financial result for FY-2020. It was evident that the peculiarities of the economic lockdown, which included the cancellation of local and international flights and the restriction of economic activities (and consequently vehicular movement), disrupted the business of petroleum products marketers.

As a result, TOTAL’s Revenue dipped across all business segments. Revenue fell by 29.1% y/y to N204.1bn in FY-2020, Cost of sales fell faster by 32.3% y/y to print at N173.9bn in FY-2020. Furthermore, due to the decline in sales, Gross Profit and Operating Profit declined by 12.3% y/y and 64.0% y/y to print at N30.7bn and N3.5bn, respectively.

Overall, the company recorded a Profit before and after Tax of N2.9bn and N2.0bn respectively (vs Profit before and after Tax of N3.0bn and N2.2bn respectively in FY-2019). Earnings per Share (EPS) fell by 9.4% y/y to N6.08 per share in FY-2020.The firm proposed a dividend of N6.08 per share. Below, we highlight key details of the downstream operator’s performance and our expectations for 2021.