By Peter OBIORA InvestAdvocate

Lagos (INVESTADVOCATE)-Japaul Oil & Maritime Services Plc on Monday declared a 2 kobo dividend which may not be too impressive if we are to go by what Major General J. Omosebi (rtd) chairman of the company said in his statement to shareholders in 2012.

The company could not pay dividend in 2012 after paying 2 kobo in 2011 and General Omosebi attributed it to the purchase of new vessels embarked upon by the Japaul and financed through heavy borrowings.

General Omosebi had said that with the new vessels, the company will be expected to generate impressive dividends in the future years.

A review of the company’s 2013 audited year end shows that all is not rosy as profit before tax (PBT) declined 35.1 percent from N380.081 million in 2012 end to N246.494 million in the review period of 2013.

Similarly, profit after tax dropped 33.2 percent from N334.471 million in 2012 end to N223.483 million in 2013 audited year end.

Turnover also went down 7.1 percent from N3.465 billion in 2012 to N3.218 billion in 2013.