Odu’a records 8.5% dip in revenue, approves N428 mil

Representatives of Ogun, Ondo, Osun, Oyo, Ekiti and Lagos, other stakeholders and Board members of Odu’a Investment Company Limited (OICL) during the 41 Annual General Meeting of OICL in Ikeja, Lagos, yesterday.. PHOTO: ENIOLA DANIEL

ODU’A Investment Company Limited (OICL) has reported an operating revenue decrease of 8.5 per cent from N4.01 billion in 2021 to N3.67 billion in 2022.

The company posted a profit before tax of N4.08 billion in 2022, 56.5 per cent lower than the N9.37 billion in 2021. The record was driven largely by lower revaluation gains.

OICL revealed this, yesterday during its 41st yearly general meeting to present its report and financial statements for the financial year ended December 31, 2022 in Lagos.

Group Chairman, OICL, Otunba Bimbo Ashiru, said the Russia-Ukraine war and the typical slowdown that has come to be associated with pre-election years significantly weighed on economic activities and investments.

“Despite these challenges however, OICL showed significant resilience, and leveraged available opportunities within the economy to continue to create value for our shareholders. I am particular proud of the commitment of our Board members, management and staff who have made it possible to achieve such a strong financial performance in a tough operating environment.

“I am happy to report that the Board has recommended a dividend of N428 million for your approval. This is higher than the dividend of N418 million paid in 2021, and indicative of our commitment to delivering sustainable returns.

“In the year 2022, we worked tirelessly to improve the quality and depth of engagement with the board and management of subsidiaries across the group. Our emphasis was on setting the foundations for improved shared service arrangements and deriving intra-group synergies. We plan to leverage our shared service programmes to drive groupwide culture and standardised business practices. We expect that these efforts will result in increased efficiency and effectiveness of our operations.

“In June 2022, the Nigeria Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) handed over the license for the BITA Marginal Field covered by PPL 249 to Bita Exploration & Production Company (BEPL), the Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) jointly owned by Odu’a Investment Company Limited and Pioneer Global and Resources Limited. Work is ongoing to operationalise the field in the near term.

The Leader of the Yoruba socio-cultural group, Afenifere, Pa Ayo Adebanjo, yesterday, said he was disappointed in the governors of the South-West for not doing enough to improve the region and create more investments.

Adebanjo, who spoke at the official launch of Odu’a Investment Foundation (OIF), said: “I ought not to be here, but I can’t miss anything related to Oduduwa.”
“I want to appeal to the governors that they have not been doing their jobs.”

Meanwhile, it was revealed that South-West Agricultural Company Limited (SWAgCo), in collaboration with OICL, has commenced work on revitalisation of the agricultural assets across the South-West region.

These include seeking partnerships for the development of the group’s land assets of about 40,000 hectares, operationalising land assets, and partnership with third party players to develop other critical agriculture infrastructure assets in the region, which cut across rice, maize, soybean and cassava value chains.

Speaking also, Lagos State Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Bimbo Hundeyin, said: “I am very happy with the 2022 annual report. I like the sincerity of the report and I am happy that we now have an oil field, it shows we are working.