Category: Equities

The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) yesterday suspended trading on 11 companies for failing to adhere to best corporate governance and extant post-listing requirements that make it mandatory for quoted companies to submit their financial statements within stipulated timelines.

The suspended companies included FTN Cocoa Processors Plc, Goldlink Insurance Plc, Guinea Insurance Plc, , Niger Insurance Plc, R.T. Briscoe (Nigeria) Plc, Resort Savings & Loans Plc, Lasaco Assurance Plc, Conoil Plc, Royal Exchange Plc, Standard Alliance Insurance Plc and Universal Insurance Plc.

In a circular signed by Head, Listings Regulation Department, Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), Godstime Iwenekhai, the Exchange indicated that the companies were suspended after they failed to file their accounts and operational reports as required by the listing rules at the Exchange. The suspension will remain in place until the companies file the relevant accounts and reports.

With the suspension, investors will not be able to trade on the shares of the companies.

Post-listing rules at the NSE require quoted companies to submit their audited earnings reports, not later than 90 calendar days after the expiration of the period. The rules also require quoted companies to submit interim report not later than 30 calendar days after the end of the relevant period.      Not less than 83 per cent of quoted companies use the 12-month Gregorian calendar year as their business year. The business year thus terminates on December 31. While March 31 is usually the deadline for submission of annual report for companies with Gregorian calendar business year, the deadline for the quarterly report is a month after the quarter.

NSE tags and applies fines on companies that fail to meet earnings reports’ deadline. Companies may pay fines that range from N100, 000 to more than N100 million as penalties for delay in the submission of their corporate earnings reports. Companies that also delayed their financial statements and accounts face threats of suspension and delisting in addition to the monetary fines.

Nigerian Aviation Handling Company (Nahco) Plc will grow its top-line consistently over the next five years to reach a record N35.05 billion by 2023. The company also plans to grow its profit by 323.3 per cent to N2.13 billion in 2019 as the management of the company assured that ongoing strategic initiatives would deliver significant growths over the next five years.

The management of the company presented the underlying facts behind the operations of the company to capital market stakeholders yesterday at the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE).

Group Managing Director, Nigerian Aviation Handling Company (Nahco) Plc, Mrs Olatokunbo Fagbemi, said the company expects its revenue to rise steadily from N9.8 billion in 2018 to N13.27 billion in 2019 and consecutively to N16.916 billion, N21.567 billion, N27.495 billion and N35.054 billion in 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023 respectively.

She outlined that the company would achieve a turnover of N13.27 billion in 2019 as against N9.88 billion in 2018 while profit before tax is expected to rise from N503 million in 2018 to N2.13 billion in 2019. Profit after tax is projected to rise to N1.81 billion.

She said new investment in ground support equipment, strategic investments in infrastructure and human capital development and improving operational efficiency at the airports would drive considerable growths this year and in the years ahead.

She assured the investing public that the company is confident of paying nothing less than 25 kobo dividend per share noting that the company expects to see significant impact of its transformation agenda on its performance as from the third quarter given the seasonal nature of the aviation business.

“We can assure you that we will achieve our targets in 2019. We believe we can achieve our forecasts. We had thought deeply about the figures and put everything in place to ensure we achieve the forecasts. We stand by the forecasts that we have and we believe we will achieve them,” Fagbemi said.

She pointed out that the company has already invested about N2 billion on new equipment and plans to increase such investment to more than N3 billion by the end of this business year.

She noted that new investments in equipment will particularly help to reduced operations cost, which were largely due to infrastructure failure at the airport and aging equipment that leads to increased maintenance cost.

She said with the injection of new ground support equipment and ongoing improvement of airport facilities, operating cost will reduce substantially, enabling the company to pass its steady revenue growth to shareholders.

According to her, Nahco has been well positioned to take advantage of the positive growth potential of the aviation industry in Africa and Nigeria as NAHCO, which controls 63 per cent of the Nigerian market, has remained preferred handler for the mail and cargo traffic in the country. Mail traffic increased by 19.96 per cent in 2018 compared with 2017 while international air cargo and domestic cargo rose by 3.5 per cent and 1.94 per cent respectively.

She said the company has continued to invest in various businesses to expand and diversify its revenue base and deliver improved returns to shareholders. In line with this, Nahco established Nahco Free Trade Zone Limited, the first airport based free trade zone in Nigeria. It also established Nahco Energy & Infrastructure Limited to tap into the opportunities in the power and infrastructure sectors of the economy. Another subsidiary, Mainland Cargo Options Limited seeks to harness opportunities of the air, land and sea logistics.

Fagbemi said the management of the company is not unmindful of the challenges in the operating environment such as liberalisation of the Nigerian market, increased competition, pricing pressures and business model obsolescence, the company has put enough measures in its growth plan to mitigate the possible risks and ensure stable growth in the years ahead.

She noted that while the company will in the immediate period support its growth with long-term loans, it may consider accessing the capital market to raise long-term funds to support its long-term growth.

She noted that the transformation agenda became necessary after a review of Nahco’s business process in December 2018 pointing out that the strategic pillars of the company’s growth plan are operational excellence, digital transformation, people and culture transformation, organic and inorganic growth and diversification.

Divisional Head, Listing Business, Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), Mr. Olumide Bolumole, commended Nahco for providing capital market stakeholders with timely information about its financial performance, as well as its strategic and operational developments.

Bolumole, who represented the Chief Executive Officer of NSE, Mr Oscar Onyema, also commended Nahco on its transformation agenda which commenced in 2018 with an upgrade in the company’s facilities and purchasing of new ground handling and service equipment for business efficiency.

He noted that the company had also taken the right steps with its five-year strategy plan which aaimed at completely restructuring the organisation for business expansion.

“We implore the board and management of Nahco to also consider taking advantage of the various benefits that the Nigerian Stock Exchange provides for both capital formation and business expansion. At the Exchange, we continue to provide a platform to support listed companies in meeting their strategic business objectives,” Bolumole said.

Airtel Africa Plc is set to become the third most capitalized quoted company on the Nigerian stock market as the telecommunications company concludes arrangements to list its shares on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE). Nigeria alone accounts for 36% of its total revenue.

Airtel Africa had last week successfully raised $750 million or N270 billion in its combined global initial public offering (IPO), which included listing on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) and the NSE. After a 10-day book building, the IPO, which had set a price range of 80 pence and 100 pence, was priced at 80 pence, implying a market capitalisation of $3.9 billion or N1.4 trillion for the telco giant.

The IPO included a Naira-based offering to Nigerian investors. The final term sheet for the IPO indicated that the Nigerian offering was priced at N363 per share. Many Nigerian investors participated in the IPO. Airtel Africa’s Nigerian subsidiary, Airtel Networks Limited, second largest telecommunication company in Nigeria, accounts for more than one-thirds of the group’s turnover.

Airtel Africa indicated that 39.23 million ordinary shares were allotted to qualified institutional investors and high net worth investors in Nigeria while 704.82 million shares were allotted to other global investors in various jurisdictions outside Nigeria.

Under the IPO schedule, the allotment of ordinary shares and crediting of ordinary shares to the Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS) accounts of successful Nigerian subscribers will take place on June 29, 2019 and   July 3, 2019 respectively. Airtel Africa is scheduled to be admitted to the official list and begin trading on the NSE on July 5, 2019.

Already authorities at the NSE and Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) have approved the listing of Airtel Africa. Airtel Africa is expected to be listed on the premium board of the NSE, trailing its closest rival MTN Nigeria Communications Plc as the third largest quoted company. MTN Nigeria was listed in May 2019 with a market capitalisation of N1.83 trillion, making it the second largest quoted company after Dangote Cement Plc.

The listing of MTN Nigeria had triggered a massive rally that market capitalisation of Nigerian equities to a gain of N2.726 trillion in May 2019, one of the two positive months for the Nigerian stock market so far this year.

Market analysts also expected a reasonable enthusiasm for Airtel Africa on debut at the NSE but the wider distribution of its shares due to the IPO may moderate the pricing trend compared with MTN Nigeria’s pricing upsurge. MTN Nigeria had sustained a day-on-day maximum allowable gain for many days, setting off a major debate about the propriety of the pricing mechanism. However, the NSE affirmed that the pricing mechanism was in line with established market forces.

Airtel Africa’s debut trading on the LSE was however weak, dropping by as much as 16 per cent during the first trading session.

The Nation had reported that Nigerian retail investors had opted for the use of special purpose vehicles (SPVs) to aggregate funds and buy into the Airtel Africa’s IPO. Airtel Africa, a subsidiary of India’s Bharti Airtel Limited, had restricted the IPO to qualified institutional investors and high net worth investors (HNIs) in Nigeria.

Under the extant rules in Nigeria, a high net worth investor is defined as an individual with net worth of at least N300 million excluding automobiles, homes and furniture. This implies that only individuals and institutions with a minimum assessable investment of N300 million can participate directly in the IPO.

To bypass the restriction, many investment houses created SPVs which were designed to aggregate subscriptions from retail investors. While the arrangements differed slightly, the investment firms used almost similar template for the SPVs, suggesting a sort of industry consensus on the approach to bypass the high net worth restriction.

Under the arrangements, the SPV will aggregate demand from retail investors and use its net worth to subscribe to the shares on behalf of the retail investors. Once successful and its account credited with the IPO shares, the investment firm will cross the shares into the CSCS accounts of the retail investors at the commencement of trading on the NSE.

The minimum share subscription by most SPV was fixed at 500 ordinary shares while the price was fixed at the ceiling of N454 per share, implying a minimum subscription of N227,000. Under the terms, the in-house allocation may be done on a pro-rata basis in the event of under allotment of the full subscription while the retail investors will bear all transfer charges. However, with the clearing price of N363 lower than N454, the excess amount will be refunded to the investors in line with the terms of the SPV.

Nigerian market has substantial retail investors. Latest data from the NSE indicated that domestic retail investors accounted for 42 per cent of total domestic transactions at the Nigerian equities market. The five-month report ended May 31, 2019 showed retail investors led the market in two months.

SPVs used attractive dividend policy to woo retail investors, who characteristically are usually excited by dividend-paying companies. Airtel Africa aims to distribute a minimum of 80 per cent of its consolidated free cash flow to its shareholders as cash dividend, subject to a ratio of net debt to underlying earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) of between 2.0 times to 2.5 times being maintained. Dividend distribution is also subject to all regulatory, statutory and monetary restrictions.

While the Nigerian offer was issued in Naira, Airtel Africa has avowed that the rights attaching to the shares allotted under the Nigerian offer shall be uniform in all respects and they will form a single class for all purposes, including with respect to voting and for all dividends and other distributions thereafter declared, made or paid on the ordinary share capital of the company.

According to the company, on a show of hands every holder of ordinary shares in the capital of the company who is present in person shall have one vote and on a poll every shareholder present in person or by proxy shall have one vote per ordinary share.

Airtel Africa added that except as provided by the rights and restrictions attached to any class of shares, shareholders will under general law be entitled to participate in any surplus assets in a winding up in proportion to their shareholdings.

“There are no restrictions on the free transferability of the Nigerian offer shares,” Airtel Africa stated, adding that no expenses will be charged by the company to any investor who purchases the Nigerian offer shares.

The ongoing move to recapitalise Nigerian insurance sector will lead to emergence of a more virile, productive and competitive insurance sector that will contribute more to national development.

Managing Director Sunu Assurances Nigeria Plc  Mr Samuel Ogbodu, at the weekend praised the new policy on minimum capital requirements for insurance functions recently released by the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM), noting that the move was in the best interest of the insurance sector.

NAICOM had in May 2019 released new capital requirements for insurance businesses with a 13-month compliance period for operators to shore up their minimum capital base to the required level. The minimum paid-up share capital of a life insurance company was increased from N2 billion to N8 billion, non-life insurance from N3 billion to N10 billion, composite insurance from N5 billion to N18 billion while re-insurance companies were directed to raise their capital base from N10 billion to N20 billion.

Ogbodu spoke in Lagos at the Capital Market Correspondents Association of Nigeria (CAMCAN) Quarterly Forum themed, “Deepening insurance penetration through effective broker engagement”.

He said the recapitalisation would lead to consolidation of the insurance sector and provide more opportunities for large ticket transactions while positioning Nigerian insurance companies as big players, as against the current trend of being agents to foreign insurance underwriters.

He added that insurance brokers would have more creative roles to play towards harnessing the benefits of the new capital base requirement.

According to him, the recapitalisation will help to reposition the Nigerian insurance sector to take its rightful place in the country’s economy as insurance companies would at the end of the recapitalisation be able to take up opportunities hitherto taken by foreign companies.

He said various efforts aimed at boosting the insurance sector’s contribution to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) from its present 0.1 per cent level would be accelerated with the implementation of the new capital base.

Ogbodu was optimistic that insurance penetration in the country would surpass one per cent with proper implementation of the capital raising exercise as players would be forced to harness new grounds.

He assured shareholders that Sunu Assurances Nigeria would surpass the new capital base of N10 billion.

“Sunu is positioned to take up the new challenges, having been rightly placed to meet up with the new capital requirement of N10 billion, even as the framework for the new policy is yet to be released,” Ogbodu said.

He said the new era would open doors for new products, reduce challenges posed by liquidity in the sector, strengthen financial inclusion and as well re-open new regulatory windows for regulators.

He pointed out that Sunu Assurances with its presence in over 14 countries, combined robust product offerings and a unique technology-driven platform, provides insurance management solutions at competitive costs to individuals and institutions.

Executive Director, Strategy and Performance, Sunu Assurances Nigeria Plc, Mr Karim Dione, also lauded the recapitalisation effort, noting that recapitalisation was the right step to take.

He said the players needed to have profitable businesses adding that the potential in Nigeria in terms of size, potential, and resources was enormous for the Sunu Group, which is ready to meet the new capital base.

“SUNU is here to stay because Nigeria is the real market in Africa in size, potential, resources and population,” Dione said.

He noted that the company’s fully paid capital presently stands at N7 billion against N10 billion required for general insurance.

Dione said the company would fully comply with the Naicom’s policy but urged the Commission to make clarification on whether total shareholders’ funds or paid-up share capital will be used to measure the minimum capital base.

Dione said enforcement of the new capital requirement would boost penetration, and also enable companies to take bigger risks.

“Nigeria is extremely competitive, when there are too many players in the industry, it will lead to price dumping. We need to reduce the players in the industry to boost the reputation of the industry,” Dione said.

He said Nigerian insurance brokers were largely professional and ethical contrary to insinuations in some quarters.

Stressing the role of brokers in the sector, Ogbodu said the sector’s earnings were mainly due to the contributions of the brokers that stood at 80 per cent.

“Without the brokers, there won’t be insurance; they contribute about 80 per cent of the earnings. We place very high premium on brokers,” Ogbodu said.

He also commended the efforts of brokers in the industry in strengthening insurance penetration.

Shareholders of Prestige Assurance Plc are meeting later this month to consider creation of additional new 14 billion ordinary shares and a new capital raising exercise to boost the capital base of the insurance company.

Prestige Assurance plans to increase its authorised share capital from N3 billion of 6.0 billion ordinary shares of 50 kobo each to N10 billion of 20 billion ordinary shares of 50 kobo each through the creation of additional 14 billion ordinary shares of 50 kobo each.

At the meeting this month-end, shareholders are expected to authorise the board of directors of the company to raise “capital by way most suitable to the company in line with the recapitalisation requirement of the National Insurance Commission”.

The increase in authorized share capital is meant to create headroom for a new capital raising exercise. Prestige Assurance currently has total issued share capital of 5.38 billion ordinary shares of 50 kobo each out of its current total authorised share capital of 6.0 billion ordinary shares.

Market analysts said Prestige Assurance might consider raising capital through a rights issue, the most preferred instrument by most fund-raising companies in recent period. The New India Assurance Company Limited, Mumbai, the precursor and founder of Prestige Assurance, holds 69.50 per cent majority equity stake in the Nigerian subsidiary while Leadway Assurance Company, an unlisted Nigerian insurance company, holds 11.47 per cent equity stake.

Prestige Assurance had in November 2018 distributed 1.53 billion ordinary shares of 50 kobo each to its shareholders as bonus shares, almost restoring 1.6 billion ordinary shares that it had cancelled under a recent capital restructuring. The company distributed bonus shares of 41 ordinary shares of 50 kobo each for every 100 ordinary shares of 50 kobo each held as at the close of business on November 27, 2018.

The company capitalised N782.57 million from its share premium account to pay for the new shares issuance. The scrip issue increased the company’s issued share capital from N1.91 billion or 3.82 billion ordinary shares to N2.69 billion or 5.38 billion ordinary shares.

Prestige Assurance had undergone a major capital restructuring in 2018. The insurance company had in June 2018 concluded share reconstruction exercise that resulted in cancellation of about 1.6 billion ordinary shares of 50 kobo each. The reconstruction was undertaken to remove bubble assets.

Under the share reconstruction, Prestige Assurance had reduced its share capital from N2.685 billion or 5.370 billion ordinary shares of 50 kobo each to N1.909 billion or 3.817 billion ordinary shares of 50 kobo each in the issued and fully paid up ordinary shares of the company.

This led to reduction of N776 million or 1.55 billion ordinary shares. “The share capital so reduced will be applied in writing off the capital of the company which is lost or unrepresented by available assets,” according to a regulatory filing on the reconstruction.

Prestige Assurance had stated that the essence of the capital reconstruction was to enable it wipe out its accumulated retained losses of N776.511 million.

Key extracts of the audited report and accounts for the year ended December 31, 2018 showed that Prestige Assurance’s gross premium increased from N3.39 billion in 2017 to N4.66 billion. Profit before tax however decreased from N697.99 million in 2017 to N645.43 million in 2018. After taxes, net profit dropped from N531.84 million in 2017 to N423.8 million in 2018. With these, earnings per share declined from 9.90 kobo in 2017 to 7.89 kobo in 2018.

Airtel Africa Plc is set to become the third most capitalised quoted company on the Nigerian stock market as the telecommunications company concludes arrangements to list its shares on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE). Nigeria alone accounts for 36% of its total revenue.

Airtel Africa had last week successfully raised $750 million or N270 billion in its combined global initial public offering (IPO), which included listing on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) and the NSE. After a 10-day book building, the IPO, which had set a price range of 80 pence and 100 pence, was priced at 80 pence, implying a market capitalisation of $3.9 billion or N1.4 trillion for the telco giant.

The IPO included a Naira-based offering to Nigerian investors. The final term sheet for the IPO indicated that the Nigerian offering was priced at N363 per share. Many Nigerian investors participated in the IPO. Airtel Africa’s Nigerian subsidiary, Airtel Networks Limited, second largest telecommunication company in Nigeria, accounts for more than one-thirds of the group’s turnover.

Airtel Africa indicated that 39.23 million ordinary shares were allotted to qualified institutional investors and high net worth investors in Nigeria while 704.82 million shares were allotted to other global investors in various jurisdictions outside Nigeria.

Under the IPO schedule, the allotment of ordinary shares and crediting of ordinary shares to the Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS) accounts of successful Nigerian subscribers will take place on June 29, 2019 and   July 3, 2019 respectively. Airtel Africa is scheduled to be admitted to the official list and begin trading on the NSE on July 5, 2019.

Already authorities at the NSE and Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) have approved the listing of Airtel Africa. Airtel Africa is expected to be listed on the premium board of the NSE, trailing its closest rival MTN Nigeria Communications Plc as the third largest quoted company. MTN Nigeria was listed in May 2019 with a market capitalisation of N1.83 trillion, making it the second largest quoted company after Dangote Cement Plc.

The listing of MTN Nigeria had triggered a massive rally that market capitalisation of Nigerian equities to a gain of N2.726 trillion in May 2019, one of the two positive months for the Nigerian stock market so far this year.

Market analysts also expected a reasonable enthusiasm for Airtel Africa on debut at the NSE but the wider distribution of its shares due to the IPO may moderate the pricing trend compared with MTN Nigeria’s pricing upsurge. MTN Nigeria had sustained a day-on-day maximum allowable gain for many days, setting off a major debate about the propriety of the pricing mechanism. However, the NSE affirmed that the pricing mechanism was in line with established market forces.

Airtel Africa’s debut trading on the LSE was however weak, dropping by as much as 16 per cent during the first trading session.

The Nation had reported that Nigerian retail investors had opted for the use of special purpose vehicles (SPVs) to aggregate funds and buy into the Airtel Africa’s IPO. Airtel Africa, a subsidiary of India’s Bharti Airtel Limited, had restricted the IPO to qualified institutional investors and high net worth investors (HNIs) in Nigeria.

Under the extant rules in Nigeria, a high net worth investor is defined as an individual with net worth of at least N300 million excluding automobiles, homes and furniture. This implies that only individuals and institutions with a minimum assessable investment of N300 million can participate directly in the IPO.

To bypass the restriction, many investment houses created SPVs which were designed to aggregate subscriptions from retail investors. While the arrangements differed slightly, the investment firms used almost similar template for the SPVs, suggesting a sort of industry consensus on the approach to bypass the high net worth restriction.

Under the arrangements, the SPV will aggregate demand from retail investors and use its net worth to subscribe to the shares on behalf of the retail investors. Once successful and its account credited with the IPO shares, the investment firm will cross the shares into the CSCS accounts of the retail investors at the commencement of trading on the NSE.

The minimum share subscription by most SPV was fixed at 500 ordinary shares while the price was fixed at the ceiling of N454 per share, implying a minimum subscription of N227,000. Under the terms, the in-house allocation may be done on a pro-rata basis in the event of under allotment of the full subscription while the retail investors will bear all transfer charges. However, with the clearing price of N363 lower than N454, the excess amount will be refunded to the investors in line with the terms of the SPV.

Nigerian market has substantial retail investors. Latest data from the NSE indicated that domestic retail investors accounted for 42 per cent of total domestic transactions at the Nigerian equities market. The five-month report ended May 31, 2019 showed retail investors led the market in two months.

SPVs used attractive dividend policy to woo retail investors, who characteristically are usually excited by dividend-paying companies. Airtel Africa aims to distribute a minimum of 80 per cent of its consolidated free cash flow to its shareholders as cash dividend, subject to a ratio of net debt to underlying earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) of between 2.0 times to 2.5 times being maintained. Dividend distribution is also subject to all regulatory, statutory and monetary restrictions.

While the Nigerian offer was issued in Naira, Airtel Africa has avowed that the rights attaching to the shares allotted under the Nigerian offer shall be uniform in all respects and they will form a single class for all purposes, including with respect to voting and for all dividends and other distributions thereafter declared, made or paid on the ordinary share capital of the company.

According to the company, on a show of hands every holder of ordinary shares in the capital of the company who is present in person shall have one vote and on a poll every shareholder present in person or by proxy shall have one vote per ordinary share.

Airtel Africa added that except as provided by the rights and restrictions attached to any class of shares, shareholders will under general law be entitled to participate in any surplus assets in a winding up in proportion to their shareholdings.

“There are no restrictions on the free transferability of the Nigerian offer shares,” Airtel Africa stated, adding that no expenses will be charged by the company to any investor who purchases the Nigerian offer shares.

The board of directors of Honeywell Flour Mills Plc will not be recommending payment of dividend for the immediate past business year as the flour-milling company struggled with N4.4 billion decline in net profit.

A regulatory filing at the weekend indicated that the company will not be paying dividend for the year ended March 31, 2019. It had distributed 6.0 kobo per share as cash dividend to shareholders for the business year ended March 31, 2018.

Key extracts of the audited report and accounts of Honeywell Flour Mills for the year ended December 31, 2019 released at the weekend showed that net profit dropped by 98 per cent from N4.43 billion in 2018 to N68.4 million in 2019. Profit before tax had dropped by 88 per cent from N4.87 billion in 2018 to N607.8 million in 2019. Turnover however rose marginally by four per cent from N71.48 billion in 2018 to N74.41 billion in 2019. Earnings per share consequently declined from 55.82 kobo to 0.86 kobo per share.

Read Also: Consumers laud new Chivita Ice Tea pack

The board of the company stated that it did not recommend dividend payment in order to conserve funds. Dr Oba Otudeko’s Siloam Global Services Limited holds the majority equity share of 75 per cent while First Bank of Nigeria Limited holds the second largest individual shareholding of 5.0 per cent.

Honeywell Flour Mills, which operates two factories in Apapa and Ikeja, had blamed the traffic gridlock at Apapa for increased costs and slowdown in business activities.  It had noted that selling and distribution costs had grown in line with increased volumes and increased costs associated with transporting finished goods out of its plant at the Tin Can-Island Port, Apapa where there has been a constant traffic gridlock.

Total Nigeria Plc will optimise the vast potential of its solar business in Nigeria to drive its growth and sustain improved returns to shareholders.

At the annual general meeting yesterday in Lagos, Chairman, Total Nigeria Plc, Stanislas Mittelman, said the company will use solar power to power its 60 stations in order to ensure stability of import, logistics optimisation and maximisation of its solar business.

He said the company has signed a 15-year power purchase agreement with a manufacturing company in Ogun State to provide 999k wp solar hybrid solution.

According to him, with a combined capacity of 1MW and production of more than 1 gigawatt hour of clean electricity, the company recognises the potential of solar, hence its programme of powering its stations which have been equipped with solar to supply electricity.

“We remain a brand of reference and leading energy solutions provider and we are confident that the company will continue to grow and even though the working capital reduced this year, we still remain conscious of our role in the Nigerian economy with the support of our stakeholders and shareholders and we expect to consolidate on our past achievements and deliver value to our shareholders as we are well positioned to overcome the challenges of the business environment in 2019,” Mittelman said.

Shareholders commended the performance of the company while unanimously approving distribution of N4.75 billion or N14 per share as final cash dividend for the 2018 business year. It had earlier paid N1.02 or N3 as interim dividend, bringing total dividend for the 2018 business year to N5.77 billion or N17 per share.

Key extracts of the audited report and accounts for the year ended December 31, 2018 showed that turnover increased from N288 billion in 2017 to N307 billion in 2018. Profit before tax rose to N12.09 billion as against N11.79 billion in 2017. Profit after tax dipped slightly to N7.96 billion in 2018 compared with N8.01 billion in 2017.

Founder, Independent Shareholders Association of Nigeria (ISAN), Sunny Nwosu, commended the company for its improved performance.

President, Pragmatic Shareholders Association of Nigeria (PSAN), Bisi Bakare noted that while there was room for improvement in the company’s performance, the payment of dividend resonated with the investors friendly policy of the company.