TotalEnergies Marketing Nigeria (TMN) saw profit from its lube operations rise in the second quarter of the year to the highest in almost two years amid firmer sales and lower costs.Gross profit from its lube operations rose to 10.22bn Nigerian Naira ($13.5mn) in the three months to end-June.Profit rose by 11pc from year-earlier levels and by 49pc from the first quarter of the year.The surge in profit from the first three months of the year outpaced the 9pc rise in sales during the same period.The improvement in sales in turn outpaced the 2pc fall in second-quarter costs from the first three months of the year.Costs fell even as Europe’s Group I base oils prices rose in the second quarter of the year from the first quarter. Base oils prices in the first three months of the year had fallen from the final quarter of last year.Nigeria’s importers faced the additional challenge of the sharp depreciation of the country’s official currency in the second quarter of the year.With sales rising faster than costs, TMN’s lube operations saw their gross profit margin rise to 30.8pc in the second quarter of the year. The margin rose from 22.6pc in the first quarter to a two-year high..Global base oils exports to Nigeria fall in May
