Expert seeks provision of 10% loan facility to boost listed firms’ operations

As shareholders of Academy Press okay 10 kobo dividend

An expert has stressed the need for the government to reverse the previous method of providing loans at a subsidised rate of 10 per cent to forestall the total collapse of listed firms in the manufacturing sector and revive the industry.

According to the Managing Director of Academy Press Plc, Olugbenga Ladipo, in an interview with The Guardian at the company’s yearly general meeting held in Lagos at the weekend, manufacturers cannot survive the current 30 per cent loan facility from banks under the current reality.

In addition, Ladipo said another factor that would help revive the ailing industry is for the government to stabilise the tariff structure and the exchange rate attached to the tariff structure.

“Government is not expected to leave the exchange rate on a free fall but they can peg the exchange rate. No nation in the world can leave its currency on a free fall, if you want to devalue, it should be a gradual process.

“The rate hike within one year is just too much, the strategy is not good. What we have within one year is a 200 per cent hike and that is too much,” he stated.

He decried the high level of uncertainty in the economy, adding that business operators can no longer plan or embark on projects that would help expand their operations.

“What I am seeing in the industry is not palatable, I am seeing manufacturing closing up and operators going out of business. It is not going to be rosy. People are managing beyond an acceptable level and that is not good for the economy.

“However, if certain things are done well, local production improves, cost of energy is reduced and stability in exchange rate achieved, that is to say that there is light at the end of the tunnel but the way things are now, it is very bad,” he said.

Reviewing the firm’s performance, the chairman of the company, Wahab Dabiri, said the company recorded a revenue of N4.51 billion, against N4.50 billion achieved in the previous year while profit before tax rose from N244 million to N264 million representing eight per cent growth.

Also at the meeting, the company’s shareholders approved a dividend of N75.6 million, culminating in 10 kobo per share due to every investor of the company.

Dabiri said the traditional business will still be largely relevant for several years to come despite the impact of modern technology, assuring that the company would continue to retool to stay ahead of trends in the industry.

He said the dynamics in the procurement of its major materials input and paper has changed, noting that a manufacturer of paper in Nigeria has begun production in the South West.