Shareholders laud NASCON over dividend payout

For increasing investment value through consistent dividend payout and adherence to corporate governance principles, shareholders of NASCON Allied Industries Plc at the weekend, commended the company’s board on the 2015 performance, even as they approved a dividend of 55 kobo per share.

The shareholders who spoke at the company’s yearly general meeting in Lagos yesterday, applauded the appointment of the new Chairman of the board, noting that the company has continued to stick to its ‘old tradition’ in terms of appointing its board members over the years.

They commended the management for the impressive performance and efficient running of the company, amid harsh economic environment

Specifically, the President, Progressive Shareholders of Nigeria (PSAN), Boniface Okezie, commended the company for the dividend declared in spite of challenging environment.

Okezie lauded the management for the improved performance achieved in 2015 financial year, urging fellow shareholders to support the new chairman.

Reviewing its performance, the company’s new Chairperson, Mrs Yemisi Ayeni assured shareholders that the company would continue to invest in existing and new products lines to achieve its strategy of growing revenues within the context of improved profit margins and increase shareholder value.

She added that the company would focus on evolving strategies that would allow it to put the vegetable-oil and tomato paste plants back in operation to enhance profitability.

“We will ensure we conclude ongoing plant upgrades that will enhance the efficiency of the production lines and guarantee consistently high product standards,” Ayeni said.

She added that the company would further strengthen its existing corporate governance framework to create long-term shareholder.

The Managing Director, Paul Farrer said that the tomato paste business line which was affected by the foreign exchange policy restrictions and operations were suspended in October 2015 to arrest additional impact on account of overhead.

“Tomatoes in not available in Nigeria and we do not want to buy outside because of the forex. We won’t continue operation until we can source tomatoes locally. We intend to produce tomato concentrate from locally grown tomatoes and maybe able to provide us with raw material requirements,” he stated.

Farrer stated that revenue from the sale of tomato paste was N0.54 billion in 2015, adding that the company was in discussions with Dansa Foods, one of its sister companies that had established a state-of-the-art tomato concentrate plant in Kano.

“After sales of 6,537 metric tonnes in bulk tankers, we had to mothball the plant in October due to lack of sufficient amounts of crude palm oil. The local producers of palm kernel have not been able to provide enough raw materials for us to produce efficiently. We are confident that we will get this segment back in operation soon,” he said.