General Manager in charge of Corporate Communications & External Affairs of Bulk Oil Storage and Transportation (BOST) Company Limited, Mr. Adjei Marlick has disclosed that the company has turned around with the management making significant gains of about GH¢30 million at the end of the year 2020.
Disclosing this in an interview on Plan B FM ‘Nkosuo Nsem’ with Ohene Addo, He said that the last time the company made a profit was in 2012 but added that the company in 2020 increased it profit margin to ₵30 million.
Mr. Adjei Marlick noted that the asset utilization of BOST increased to over 30 percent in 2020 as compared to 2017, which was 17 percent.
“So far, so good, I can confidently tell you that BOST has turned around. Last year on the management account alone, we made a huge profit of 30 million cedis profit. The last time we made a profit was in 2012”. Our asset utilization was 17 percent; our asset utilization has increased to over 30%”. We no longer borrow to pay our workers as we used to do. This is due to prudent management practices despite a difficult year due to the covid-19 pandemic’’ he disclosed
“Our debt in January 2017 was around $623 million, as we speak we’ve been able to defray that to $19 million which we should be able to offset by the end of the year” He added.
He, however, feared that the performance of management of BOST may be rendered irrelevant by foreign exchange, which is still hanging on the company; thus, BOST has to battle the foreign exchange losses.
In explaining the foreign exchange losses, Mr. Adjei Marlick said that every year, there is depreciation as those loans in their books were taken in dollars and BOST also earns in Cedis, creating foreign exchange lost whenever the loans are revalued.
He further stated, BOST as part of its accountability to the public, the management held a performance assessment engagement with Civil Society Groups (CSOs), in the energy sector in Bolgatanga, the Upper East Regional capital, and assured them of transparency in the management of the company’s activities. He said the CSOs expressed satisfaction with the work done so far by his outfit.
“As we speak, following the increase in the BOST margins from GH¢0.3pesewas to GH¢0.9pesewas, we’ve been able to repair the faulty pipelines which has enabled us to transport petroleum products from Buipe to Bolgatanga to help the work we do there. We will have the opportunity to sell our petroleum products to Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger if we get the approval from the NPA, it will be on a cash and carry basis which will benefit the company” he intimated
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