Oando Plc narrowed its first-half pre-tax loss by 77% after returning to profit in the second quarter, although high finance costs continued to weigh on overall earnings.
Oando Plc reported a sharp improvement in its financial performance for the first half of 2026, reducing its pre-tax loss by 77.5% as stronger revenues and a profitable second quarter helped offset losses recorded earlier in the year.
According to the company's unaudited results for the six months ended June 30, 2026, pre-tax loss narrowed to N32.84 billion, compared with N145.74 billion in the same period last year.
The biggest improvement came in the second quarter, when Oando posted a pre-tax profit of N44.53 billion, recovering from a N77.37 billion pre-tax loss in the first quarter and a N93.18 billion loss recorded in the second quarter of 2025.
Group revenue increased by 19.9% year-on-year to N2.06 trillion, up from N1.72 trillion a year earlier. Gross profit more than quadrupled to N101.19 billion from N23.48 billion, while the company recorded an operating profit of N127.84 billion, compared with an operating loss of N158.71 billion in the first half of 2025.
Profit after tax also improved by 8.3% to N68.56 billion, while earnings per share rose 60% to N8.00.
The company's largest source of income remained its Supply and Trading business, which generated N1.72 trillion, representing more than 83% of total revenue. Its Exploration and Production segment contributed N344.23 billion, accounting for nearly 17% of total revenue.
Although revenue grew strongly, Oando continued to operate on relatively thin margins because the Supply and Trading business generates high sales but relatively low profits. In simple terms, the company earned only about 51 kobo in operating profit for every N100 of revenue generated by that segment.
Operating performance also benefited from N48.52 billion in other operating income and a N55.92 billion impairment reversal, which together accounted for a significant portion of operating profit.
Despite these gains, finance costs remained the company's biggest challenge. While finance expenses declined to N167.58 billion from N194.12 billion, finance income dropped sharply to N6.28 billion, resulting in a net finance cost of N161.30 billion. That amount exceeded the company's operating profit and pushed Oando back into a pre-tax loss for the six-month period.
The balance sheet showed some improvement in liquidity, with cash and cash equivalents rising 23.9% to N544.92 billion. Total assets increased to N7.89 trillion, while total borrowings remained broadly unchanged at N2.70 trillion.
However, Oando continued to face financial pressure as current liabilities of N6.57 trillion exceeded current assets of N3.54 trillion, leaving a working capital deficit of about N3.03 trillion. The company also remained in a negative equity position, with liabilities exceeding assets by N530.45 billion.
Oando's shares closed July at N36.60, down 8.39% during the month and 8.96% since the beginning of 2026, reflecting a challenging year for the stock despite the company's improving operational performance.
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