Nigeria's Transcorp doubles first-half profit on hotel, power investments

Transcorp Hilton Hotel, Abuja

 Nigerian conglomerate Transcorp reported that half-year pretax profit more than doubled to 8.01 billion naira ($49.4 mln), with its chief executive citing strong performance from hotel and power assets.
Transcorp's flagship hotel, managed by the Hilton group in Nigeria's capital city Abuja, was the main venue for an African version of the World Economic Forum that takes place annually in Davis, Switzerland.
The hotel achieved strong revenue growth through increased traffic during the World Economic Forum for Africa event in May, CEO Obinna Ufudo said in a statement on Monday.
He also highlighted a revenue-boosting rise in output from the power plant Transcorp acquired in a government privatisation last November. The plant lifted output to 453 megawatts during the six-month period to June 30, up from 160 megawatts when it took over.
Ufudo said the company was on course to expand capacity at the plant to 715 megawatts by the end of the year.
Shares in Transcorp, which have gained 33 percent this year, fell 3.55 percent to 5.70 naira on Monday.
The conglomerate, which also has interests in agribusiness, oil and gas, on Saturday announced plans to invest about $200 million to expand its hotel network and power generation capacity in Africa's biggest economy.
Transcorp reported turnover of 21.2 billion naira for the half-year, up 177 percent from 7.7 billion naira the previous year.