Nigeria, April 30 -- Transcorp Hotels saw after-tax profit inch up by just 0.6 per cent year on year in the first quarter amid escalating operating costs, its unaudited accounts published on Tuesday showed.

Cost-to-income ratio jumped to 1.3 from 0.9, eating up a good deal of the revenue of the hospitality division of Transnational Corporation of Nigeria, which expanded operations with a 5,000-seater event centre in Abuja recently.

The corporate results were for the first full quarter under the leadership of CEO Uzo Oshogwe, who took office in January after giving up the same role at Lagos-based Afriland Properties.

Operating expenditure soared by almost half to N9.1 billion, following spikes in energy costs, management fees as well as...