BOST To Explore New Markets In West Africa — Posts Huge Profits For Second Consecutive Time

The Bulk Oil Storage and Transportation (BOST) has said it will continue to explore new markets within West Africa for petroleum products while preparing to transition from a purely oil and gas company to a full energy company.

The company seeks to diversify its product mix by investing in the storage of new transition fuels such as liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) and blended ethanol, among others.

BOST also intends to leverage modern trends, including Artificial Intelligence (AI), to ensure that the company remained relevant in the market space.

The Managing Director of BOST, Edwin Provencal, dropped the hint at the company’s annual general meeting (AGM) in Accra.

Already, the company’s five-year turnaround strategy being implemented is paying off as evidenced in the company’s annual results for 2022.

The strategy, started in 2020 and focused on two key pillars, seeks to enhance operational excellence and aggressively grow the business, which was fleshed into rebranding the corporate image and creating a great performance-based corporate culture, with measurable sub-targets.

Strong financials

BOST posted a profit after tax of GH¢342 million last year, the second time in 11 years.

Up from the GH¢160.72 million recorded in 2021, the 112 per cent growth marks the company’s second successive profit in two years after 10 previous years of heavy losses, which forced many to call for the scrapping of the company because of its heavy burden on the taxpayer.

The company’s profitability was on account of its 169 per cent increase in revenue to GH¢3.02 billion from GH¢1.12 billion within the same period.

The BOST MD could not hide his joy when he said, “I am happy to state that we have achieved our 2024 revenue target of GH¢3 billion in 2022. We are on course to achieve the remaining targets by 2024.

Last year, BOST provided world-class training for 431 of its staff; thus, about 89 per cent of the human capital put in their all to implement the performance management system across the business.

While revenue from gasoline sales increased by 224 per cent, from GH¢340.63 million to GH¢1.1 billion, gas oil sales increased by 352 per cent, from GH¢331.1 million to GH¢1.5 billion.

This was attributed to the positive trading performance to improved financing arrangements, more effective customer engagement and retention initiatives, as well as the prudent management of trading risks.

However, the contribution of the BOST margin to revenue declined by 10 per cent to GH¢343.26 million from GH¢380.42 million in 2021, while storage fees increased by 27 per cent from GH¢21.89 million in 2021 to GH¢27.72 million.

BOST’s rack fees also increased by 24 per cent, from GH¢30.75 million in 2021 to GH¢38.17 million in 2022.

In the year under review, the company consolidated its position as second among the depot operators nationwide and first outside the Greater Accra Region but, as of May 2023, BOST is now the market leader.

As a result, the company has finally transitioned from a negative equity position of GH¢248.19 million in 2021 to a positive equity position of GH¢86.47 million in 2022.

Turnaround

The Board Chairman of BOST, Ekow Hackman, said the company’s performance was in the context of a series of losses which had been recorded for more than a decade until 2021.

“Central to our transformation has been the restoration of our business model, which involves the effective utilisation of our strategically located fuel depots connected by a network of pipelines and barges,” Mr Hackman said. 

“The revival of these assets has enabled us to deliver fuel products securely and cost-effectively to consumers across the country,” he added.

Dividends

The Minister of Energy, Dr Mathew Opoku-Prempeh, said the positive performance now placed BOST on a sound footing to enable the company to pay dividends to the government.

“I have had the opportunity to review the company’s performance over the past year, and I must express my satisfaction and admiration for the financial accomplishments of the company’s management within such a short time frame. 

“The progress made by BOST exemplifies the path we should continue to follow, and we encourage you to increase the momentum to sustain this performance and strive for even greater heights,” Dr Prempeh said.

Source: Graphiconline