The Quarterly Report for the fourth quarter of 2020 of State Trading Organization PLC (STO) has been released on the company’s website.
The fourth quarter (Q4) of 2020 of STO generated a total revenue of MVR 1.9 billion and the gross profit amounted to MVR 378 million. Compared to Q4 of the year ended 2019, this has resulted in a 15% increase.
As for the operating expenses, standing at MVR 257 billion is an increase of 4% compared to Q4 of the previous year. This has been due to the credit period extension given to trade receivables and the change in the measurement of provision which subsequently increased the provision amounts in the financial statements.
The Profit after tax for Q4 stood at MVR 90.6 million and this is a 10% increase compared to Q4 of 2019.
The company generated a staggering MVR 7.2 billion in total revenue for the year ended 2020. Since the company managed to reduce its operating expenses, the Profit before tax amounted to over MVR 500 million. The Profit after tax was at MVR 410 million and this is a 35% increase compared to 2019.
With this positive financial performance, STO managed to have MVR 80 as earnings per share in Q4 of 2020 and MVR 364 in 2020 as a whole. The company also paid over MVR 10 million to its shareholders in 2020.
STO’s market value as a giant in the Maldives Stock Exchange can be seen by its market capitalization of MVR513million in 2020.
As a partly state owned company, STO’s first and foremost objective is providing affordable products to Maldivians. Therefore, even during the Covid19 Pandemic, the company has focused on providing staple food such as flour and sugar as well as medicine to the general public. Consequently. STO has supplied medical consumables and equipment to hospitals in the fight against Covid19. As the government is turning four hospitals into tertiary level hospitals, STO has provided the required equipment in these projects as well.
