THE Seprod Group has released financials showing that last October’s fire at its Facey Commodity subsidiary, Facey, has razed its bottom line, sending profits tumbling 25 per cent to $2.16 billion.

The fire wiped out over 86 per cent of the finished goods inventory, which also included the Christmas stocks.

The Seprod management explained that while the group lost billions of dollars of inventory and infrastructure, which were all adequately insured, the company is recovering and is set to emerge as a more resilient, efficient, and committed organisation with a strong growth trajectory.

The Richard Pandohie-led management team emphasised that the fire “severely impacted the financial performance, as the well-documented global supply chain challenges have limited the speed of replacement of the lost inventory”.

However, Seprod is boasting that its “manufacturing entities have ramped up production; our principals in the distribution pillar did their best to supply [the various markets]; local stakeholders partnered with us to find and make functional alternative location for storage; and our employees have simply been outstanding”.

While profit was down year-over-year, profit during the fourth quarter amounted to $455.26 million, up from the $389.29 million reported during the comparable quarter in 2021. For 2021, Seprod posted revenue totalling $42.91 billion compared to $37.74 billion recorded in 2020, representing a 14 per cent increase year over year with the management providing an explanation for the 25 per cent drop in profits.

The management team asserted that “this decline must be put in context as, in 2020, the group recorded a one-off gain of $762 million from the sale of a property. With the exception of this one-off gain, the unaudited full-year profit for 2021 increased by $47 million or 2% versus the corresponding period in 2020”.

Revenue for the December quarter amounted to $11.76 billion relative to the $9.08 billion reported in 2020, indicative of the recovery taking place from the fire and the novel coronavirus pandemic.

However, the management was unable to contain costs.

Meanwhile, direct expenses increased by 17 per cent, from $27.25 billion to $31.90 billion. Other operating expenses rose 3.0 per cent to close the period at $8.57 billion, up from the 2020 posting of $8.30 billion.