The Nation Newspaper

Tag: records

  • Lafarge Wapco records N8.6b profit in 3 months

    Lafarge Cement Wapco Nigeria Plc recorded significant growths in sales and profit in the first quarter of this year as the leading cement manufacturer hauled a profit before tax of N8.62 billion within three months.

    Interim report and accounts of Lafarge Wapco for the three-month ended March 31, 2014 showed that sales rose by 16 per cent while pre and post tax profits grew by 20 per cent and 34 per cent respectively. The report showed that turnover rose to N27.03 billion in first quarter of 2014 as against N23.24 billion recorded in comparable period of 2013. Profit before tax increased from N7.20 billion to N8.62 billion. Profit after tax also rose from N6.07 billion to N8.15 billion. Earnings per share grew by 34 per cent from N2.02 to N2.71.

    The company indicated that net finance cost reduced from N980 million to N760 million due to lower interest charges following the full repayment of the Naira syndicated bank loans. Investment income simultaneously grew by N160 million to N260 million.

    Managing director, Lafarge Cement Wapco Nigeria Plc, Joe Hudson, said the good performance in the first quarter was a reflection of the increasing demand for the company’s quality products and an outcome of the implementation of various volume and cost improvement strategies.

    “We are especially pleased that the new line in Ewekoro continues to gain momentum and remain very optimistic about the rest of the year despite the challenging operating environment,” Hudson said.

    Chief financial officer, Anders Kristiansson, noted that the company further strengthened its financial position during the quarter as it remains committed to delivering value to shareholders and other stakeholders in 2014.

    A subsidiary of France-based Lafarge SA, the world leader in building materials, Lafarge Wapco is the oldest and leading cement company in Nigeria. With its three plants in Ewekoro and Sagamu in Ogun State, Lafarge WAPCO is the manufacturer of Elephant Supaset, Lafarge PowerMax and Elephant Cement, a five decade old formidable brand that has consistently won the NIS Certificate for product quality by the Nigerian Standard Organisation for over two decades.

    It recently launched a concrete solution to cater for the needs of the Nigerian infrastructure market through her subsidiary, Lafarge ReadyMix Nigeria Limited.

  • Wema Bank records N1.9b profit

    Wema Bank records N1.9b profit

    Wema Bank Plc has announced a N1.9 billion profit before tax and 35 per cent rise in assets for the financial year, which ended December 31, last year.

    Speaking from the bank’s headquarters in Lagos, its Managing Director/CEO, Segun Oloketuyi, said the lender achieved a significant milestone as it returned to full profitability, following its concerted efforts in implementing the first phase of its turnaround project.

    That, he said, was done despite the increasingly competitive and highly regulated operating environment.

    “We are particularly encouraged by our Year-on-Year growth in our total assets, customer deposits and, loans and advances to customers which grew 35 per cent, 25 per cent and 34 per cent respectively.

    “We recorded a strong Capital Adequacy Ratio of 27 per cent and recorded a Profit Before Tax of N1.9 billion compared to a loss position in previous financial years,” he said.

    Oloketuyi said the bank continues to reaffirm its position as one of Nigeria’s brightest prospects in the financial services industry with the successful completion of the first phase of its repositioning programme.

    This, he said, followed the successful completion of the bank’s N40 billion Tier 1 capital raising exercise in the third quarter of last year, which was fully subscribed by investors.

    The bank CEO said the transformation plan, Project Leap; a short term growth project with a target of rapidly increasing the bank’s market share in its niche segment of Retail and Small and Medium Enterprise has started to yield positive results.

    He said the lender is on the path of sustainable growth. “We recorded improvements in profitability and an increase in customer deposits on the back of our Retail and Commercial businesses. The Capital raising exercise we concluded last year has also increased our capacity to do business and ability to withstand economic shocks,” he said.

    According to him, the bank remains committed to improving operational efficiency and focused on containing operating expense growth.

  • Makanjuola records first victory at ITTF World Tour

    Makanjuola records first victory at ITTF World Tour

    Having featured in two International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF)-sanctioned World Tours without any win, Nigeria’s Kazeem Makanjuola recorded his first victory on Wednesday at the ongoing Tour tagged Spanish Open in Almeria, Spain.

    Today, Nigerian players will be on duty as the doubles events take centre stage at the five-day $100,000 prize money championship.

    Prior to the resounding victory against Venezuela’s Nelson Villamieva, Makanjuola, a bronze medalist at the maiden Lagos Classics had suffered defeats at the Kuwait and Qatar Opens earlier this year, while he narrowly missed out from competing at the German Open. However, he halted his strings of loss on table three when he pounded his Venezuelan counterpart, 11-4, 11-3, 11-6, 11-4 with his last hurdle to secure a place in the main draw holding on Thursday against Spain’s Alfredo Carneros on table six.

    Before departing for the tournament, Makanjuola had said he would return to the country empty-handed having tasted defeats in his two appearances at the World Tour. Also knowing fully well that amassing defeats might raise a question about his inclusion in the Team Nigeria to the 2014 World Championship in Japan later this month.

    Again, Ganiat Olatunde-Aruna failed to overcome India’s Shamini Kumaresan in her first group match despite making several spirited efforts in the encounter. It was the Indian lady that carried the day with a 13-11, 11-4, 11-8, 11-6 win.

    In the preliminary of the doubles events, Nigeria’s Aruna Quadri and Makanjuola got a bye to the last 32 where they are expected to tackle Denmark’s duo of Mikkel Hindesson and Kasper Sternberg on Thursday.

    Also, the pair of Olatunde-Aruna and Edem Offiong will confront Chinese Taipei’s Hsin Huang and Hsing-Yin Liu on Thursday as well.

    Meanwhile, Alexandre Robinot is one of three Frenchmen who are prominent in the qualification stage of the Men’s Singles event; the two others are Thomas Le Breton and Benjamin Brossier. Thomas Le Breton is the third highest globally rated in action; Benjamin Brossier is sixth on the list.

    They have been impressed during their careers on the international stage as well as their compatriots – Antoine Hachard, Jeremy Petiot, Can Akkuzu and Mehdi Bouloussa – who will compete in the group qualification stage of the Men’s Singles event.

  • Dangote Cement records N190b profit, pays N7 dividend

    Dangote Cement records N190b profit, pays N7 dividend

    Leading cement manufacturer, Dangote Cement Plc has declared its 2013 financials, recording an upsurge in its Nigerian sales volume to 13.3million tonnes, resulting in a 40.6 per cent increase in profit before tax over the previous year.

    The company declared a profit before tax of N190.8 billion for the year.

    The audited results of the company announced in Lagos indicated that the pre-tax profit is 40.6 per cent higher than that of the previous year while consolidated revenue grew up to N386.2billon, representing an increase of 29.4 per cent.

    While the results celebrated the increase in the company’s sales volume, it showed further that total Nigerian cement market grew by 15.6 per cent to nearly 21.2 million tonnes.

    The firm attributed the increased sales volume to its direct-to-customer deliveries strategy and described it as proving highly successful accounting for more than 50 per cent of sales, with its Obajana plant sales volumes up 37.2 per cent and Ibese up by 40.4 per cent.

    Consequently, the company recommended a dividend increase of N7.0 per ordinary share as against N3 paid out in 2012 an increase of 133 per cent.

    Dangote Cement’s Group Chief Executive, Devakumar Edwin expressed satisfaction with the performance of the company saying the impressive run was as a result of strategies deployed to the management of the prevailing economic situation.

    He said: “Dangote Cement made excellent progress in 2013. As the Nigerian cement market grew by a strong 15.6 per cent we managed even better growth of 28.2 per cent, with our revenues increasing by 29.4 per cent to N386.2billion. Our direct-delivery strategy is proving very popular with customers and I am pleased to report that direct-to-customer deliveries now account for more than half of our sales.

    “We increased our margins despite continuing disruption to our gas supply and believe that the gas distribution infrastructure will be more robust in 2014, enabling us to improve our margins even further. At the same time, we are looking at ways to diversify our fuel supplies to mitigate the impact of any future disruption and reduce the cost of using alternative fuels to gas.

    “Our financial strength has allowed us to increase our dividend by 133 per cent to ?7.0 per share and the coming year will see our new factories opening across Africa as we begin to deliver on our promise to become Africa’s leading cement producer, generating strong and sustainable returns for our shareholders.”

  • Vitafoam records N280m profit in three months

    Vitafoam Nigeria Plc recorded marginal increases in sales and profitability in the first quarter as the foam-manufacturing company continued to struggled with high interest expense.

    Interim report and accounts of Vitafoam for the first quarter ended December 31, 2013 showed 1.6 per cent increase in sales while profit before tax rose slightly by 8.3 per cent. Profit after tax also inched up by 1.99 per cent.

    Turnover stood at N4.38 billion in December 2013 as against N4.31 billion recorded in comparable period of 2012. Profit before tax rose from N259.02 million to N280.47 million while profit after tax inched up to N180.43 million compared with N176.90 million in corresponding period of 2012.

    The first quarter report showed a familiar performance trend that has dogged the leading foam-manufacturing group in recent years, with sluggish sales and interest-suppressed bottom-line.

    Audited report and accounts of Vitafoam Nigeria for the year ended September 30, 2013 had indicated that sales rose by 12.8 per cent but pre and post tax profits dropped by 22.5 per cent and 18.2 per cent respectively. The largest growth on the profit and loss accounts remains finance expenses, which rose by about 40 per cent. With basic earnings per share dropping from 61 kobo to 50 kobo, the retention of the 30 kobo dividend payout cut dividend cover from 2.03 times to 1.67 times. This downtrend is also evident in the underlying returns and profitability of the company.

    Group’s total sales closed 2013 at N16.34 billion compared with N14.48 billion recorded in 2012. Cost of sales however rose by 16.4 per cent from N9.34 billion to N10.87 billion. Gross profit thus inched up by 6.3 per cent from N5.14 billion to N5.47 billion. Total operating expenses rose by 9.8 per cent to N4.34 billion as against N3.95 billion in previous year. Distribution cost had increased from N945.19 million in 2012 to N955.83 million in 2013 while administrative expenses rose from N3.0 billion to N3.38 billion. Non-core business income increased by 13 per cent from N146 million to N165 million. However, finance expenses jumped by 39.7 per cent to N661 million as against N473 million in previous year.

  • Reps to NNPC: Open your records to AGF now

    Reps to NNPC: Open your records to AGF now

     • Corporation fails to remit, saysit is operating at a loss

    The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) would be legally compelled to remit to the Consolidated Revenue Fund (CRF), four years of unremited independent revenue accruing to the Federal Government, the House Committee on Finance has declared.

    Consequently, the lawmakers have directed the oil corporation to give express access to the Auditor General of the Federation (AGF) to scrutinise its records on Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) from 2009 to 2012.

    The corporation generated N6.3 trillion in four years and remitted nothing to the CRF. The Corporation said it is operating at a loss.

    The breakdown showed that NNPC made N2 trillion in 2009 as its IGR, while it realised N2.1 trillion in 2010. It generated N1.9 trillion in N2011, and as at July 2012, it has realised N259billion.

    However, against the provisions of the Fiscal Responsibility Act (FRA), 2007 and a 2011 Ministry of Finance directive, reevnue-generating agencies were directed to remit 25 per cent of their gross collection to the Treasury. the Corporation remitted nothing to the CRF.

    According to the Corporation’s Group Managing Director, Andrew Yakubu who appeared before the House’s Committee on Finance yesterday, the reason for the non-remittance was because the organisation has been operating at a loss.

    Yakubu in his submission, said the corporation was operating on its own account, adding that it was forced by circumstances to operate in a challenging business environment.

    “For instance, we have to buy crude at commercial rates, but have to sell at regulated prices, as such, it was difficult to generate profit, and that is why we have difficulties in remitting to the CRF.

    “Also, the cost of generating that IGR is more than the IGR because we spend more to produce the products from where we generate the profits, as we incur additional cost to produce those products

    “We lost nothing less than N600million per week to vandalism, and that is also beyond our control,” he said.

    Yakubu regretted that the issue of subsidy contributed to the inability of the corporation to meet up with its CRF obligations. “With this, there is no business that can generate profit in such a hostile environment,” he added.

    Yakubu explained that as the supplier of last resort, the position of the corporation became more dicey, as it was left as the only supplier of petrol while the fuel subsidy crisis lasted last year.

    The lawmakers however said it was unacceptable for NNPC to claim that it has been operating at a loss despite being protected by the government.

    According to the Committee, the NNPC erred when it flouted the FRA, 2007and failed to remit government’s part of the IGR to the CRF.

    “Operating at a loss is not an issue, you generated some money and the law is clear on what belongs to you and to the other but you chose to ignore it and refused to remit of the Federal government its dues”.

     

     

  • FAAN records 14.9m passengers

    The Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) has said it recorded 14.3 million passengers last year as against 14.9 million in 2011, the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports.

    This was contained in a statement from FAAN’s General Manager, Corporate Communications Yakubu Dati in Lagos yesterday.

    It said the two years recorded a growth difference of four per cent.

    The statement said the passenger record was taken in all the nation’s airports, including the Katsina Domestic and International Airport and Makurdi airport.

    It added that the highest figure was taken from both the domestic and international terminal of the Murtala Muhammed Airport, Lagos, which has 7.4 million last year as against 7 million in 2011.

    It added that the Abuja and Port Harcourt airports recorded 3.6 million and 1.3 million passengers last year against 4.2 million and 1.3 million in 2011.

    The statement noted that Kano, Enugu, Kaduna and Calabar airports were among the top on the list of the passengers.

    It said the airports with the lowest passengers were Ibadan, Minna, Akure, Katsina and Makurdi.

    It said Katsina airport recorded 5,657 last year against 19,898 for 2011 passenger traffic.

    The statement added that Makurdi had the lowest record of 1,255 last year against 1,924 in 2011.

  • ZAMBIA VS NIGERIA Eagles/Chipolopolo tie records highest ticket sales

    ZAMBIA VS NIGERIA Eagles/Chipolopolo tie records highest ticket sales

    Sipho Gama, General Manager of the province’s Culture, Sports and Recreation Department has revealed that the match between Nigeria and Zambia has so far recorded the highest number of ticket sales.

    “We are very concerned about the slow tickets sales, we have to come out with strategies to create awareness and encourage people to buy tickets. People are not just buying tickets except group tickets purchased by teams playing at the centre. The match between Nigeria and Zambia has so far recorded the highest number of ticket sales. But sales of tickets are generally slow,’’ Gama said.

    “You know, where we have stated which countries will be playing in Mbombela and people are excited about it, they have got the flags of the nations playing here and the national flags of South Africa. We have given them vuvuzelas and we are saying to them go and buy tickets, so that you can be at the stadium. So, I think the campaign is working for us,’’ Gama added.

    Meanwhile, Mpumalanga provincial government is working round the clock to woo members of the public to purchase tickets for games.

    Sipho Gama, General Manager of the province’s Culture, Sports and Recreation Department, said they had embarked on road shows to encourage members of the public to purchase tickets for the tournament.

    Mbombela Stadium will host group C matches with teams – Nigeria’s Super Eagles, Zambia, the defending champions, Ethiopia and Burkina Faso.

    The LOC had raised concerns at the slow tickets sales. He said the awareness campaign would continue until the tournament’s kick off on Jan. 19.

  • FG, oil companies cautioned over crude oil records

    The Executive Director of Environmental Right Action, (ERA/FoEN), Nnimmo Bassey, has called on the federal government and the oil companies to publish the exact amount of crude oil and gas they pump from the oil well in Nigeria.

    Bassey made this call at the 5th National Environmental Consultation organised by Environmental Right Action/Friends of the Earth, Nigeria with support from the United Nation Development Programme (UNDP), held over the weekend at Excellence Hotel, Ogba, Lagos.

    The programme titled: Corporate Accountability and The Environment, brought together about 100 delegates drawn from government agencies, research institutions, the academia, non-governmental organisations and development agencies.

    According to him, “we demand that the oil companies must publish the exact amount of crude oil and gas they pumped from every well. A situation where revenue estimates are based only on crude figures from distribution/export points is unhealthy.”