May&Baker assures shareholders of improved returns

AFTER two years on non-payment of dividend due to upgrading of the company’s facilities and the construction of a World Health Organisation (WHO) certified factory, called Ota Pharma, shareholders of May and Baker Nigeria Plc have approved a dividend of five kobo per share for the 2014 financial year.

The shareholders told the board and management of the company that their wait for the dividend has paid off as they can boast of a world-class pharmaceutical factory and as well as return on investment.

A shareholder activist, Bonifae Okezie, said: “We shareholders of the company are happy that the company has returned to profit and that very soon the company will begin to pay higher dividend as the time goes.

His words: “Let me thank the board and management for a job well down. Though, the dividend of five kobo is small but if we look at from where we are coming and the gigantic project that the company just completed, then we need to appreciate the management of the company. We hope that this will improve in the current financial year”.

Chairman of the company, General Theophilus Danjuma, told shareholders at the meeting that the company was able to break the trend of non-payment of dividend because of the improvements recorded in the 2015 financial year.

His words:” Despite the harsh operating environment, our company, May and Baker Nigeria Plc, posted an impressive result for the year 2014. The challenges associated with the building and depreciation of Pharmacentre is gradually being taken care of and our company has bounced back to profitability”.

The result for the year showed that the company recorded a 990 percent growth in profit. From a profit before tax of N11.4 million in 2013, the group recorded a profit of 101.1 million in 2014. Profit after tax rose by 161 percent from negative of N103 million in 2013 to a positive of N63 million in 2014, while turnover rose to N7 billion from N6.3 billion in 2013, representing a growth of 10.3 percent.

Going forward, Danjuma said the company outlook remains bright and the signs are already manifesting with the return to profitability and dividend payment.