Obtala Limited (LON:OBT), the Africa-focused forestry and timber group, saw a sharp increase in revenue in the fourth quarter of 2018.
Revenue in the final quarter of last year rose to US$3.7mln from U$$3.2mln in the preceding quarter, taking the total for the whole year to US$13.5mln, up from US$8.4mln the year before.
The group recently completed a strategic review of the loss-making parts of the business to focus on forestry and timber, and the focus in the final quarter of last year was on increasing output from its profitable assets in West Africa, reducing costs, attracting additional trade finance funding, and improving margins by leveraging its fixed cost base to reduce the cost of production.
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"The positive transition within the operating business during 2018 has resulted in a further upward rebasing of revenues, a trend we expect to accelerate into 2019,” said Paul Dolan, the chief executive officer of Obtala.
“The efforts made to generate this result have been mirrored by intensive management focus on cost reduction, streamlining of the corporate structure, strengthening the balance sheet and creating a board with the strongest possible credentials within our chosen sphere of competition. I look forward to communicating further progress on all of these fronts during 2019," he added.
Shares in Obtala were up 0.7% at 7.1p in early deals.