By Stanley Iwuoha
The Okomu Oil Palm Company PLC on Thursday declared 18.50k dividends for it’s shareholders for the year ending 31 December, 2023.
The decisionOkomu Oil declares N18.50k dividends for shareholders
…Records N20.5bn profit
…Re-elect directors was taken at its annual general meeting, AGM held at Transcorp Hilton Abuja.
The company reported a total.turn over N95 billion for the 12 months period up by 36% from the N72,498,290 of the previous year.
Profit after tax grew year on year by 27.21% to N20.65 billion in 2023 financial year from N16.23 billion reported in FY 2022.
Earnings per share of Okomu stands N21.64.
At the share price of N243, the P/E ratio of Okomu Oil stands at 11.23x with earnings yield of 8.91%.
The shareholders also re-elected members on the board and elected one new director,chief Osaru Ida, who is representing Edo state government, and re-elected three other directors who have been on the board prior to now.
Speaking at the AGM, the Chairman of the Company’s board, Gbenga Oyebode said the N18.50k dividends declared by the company was the highest ever declared in the history of the company, and an indication of a profitable and fruitful year ending.
” It shows that our company continues to do well, increase volumes, continue increasing the acreage on the plantation and continues to support the local communities where it is operating. This is the highest profits that we’ve ever made, highest dividends we’ve ever paid, it shows the stability, the strength, the sustainability of our business.
” We re-elected members on the board and elected one new director representing the state government chief Osaru Ida and we re-elected three other directors who have been on the board prior to now.”
The Board Chairman, who underscored the importance of expansion and friendly operating environment, said the company needs more plantations across the country, saying that, “the few plantations that we have do not satisfy local demand and therefore that’s why there’s an increase, prices are high, it’s important for us to continue to plant.
“As you know, the country will double population in 20 years, we need to continue to plant so as to meet the needs of our people.”
Speaking on security, Oyebide said the company will continue to do it’s beat but called for government intervention to guarantee the safety of the workers.
“We continue to do what we have to do, we work very closely with the state government, the state government has been very supportive, there are militants in the area, they attack but we are working very hard to reduce the incidents,” he added.
Talking about climate concerns, he said, the company’s activities don’t have any negative impact but added that the company would continue to maintain the highest standard in terms of preserving the safety of residents and operational environment .
“We continue to plant sustainably and that’s what our business is, we have no negative impact on the environment around us,” adding that their Corporate Social Responsibility, CSR is concentrated on the host communities.
In his own remarks, the Managing Director of the company, Dr. Graham Hefer said it was gratifying to please the shareholders who expressed happiness with the amount of dividends declared.
“We’re very happy that the shareholders were happy with us, and we are very glad to have given them the service and obviously the dividends that they were wishing for. So I’m very happy to be at an AGM where we make our shareholders happy.”
Beyond the dividends declared, Hefer said the company had basically done everything better and more efficiently in the year ending December , 2023.
The MD, who lamented the harsh operating environment called for more friendly policies and government incentives to enable the company remain in business.
“We’ve managed to keep our costs in check, even under conditions of high inflation, devaluations and general problems within the economies of not just Nigeria but generally in the world.
“I’m very proud of my people, my workers. They’ve all made sure that they’ve put their grease to the elbow and they’re working very hard.
“Apart from the insecurity, Inflation, devaluations of the Naira, multiple taxations, poor infrastructure, problems at the ports are major issues we face, but we have to keep going. If we can get those better, it will make life easier for not just us but most of the companies in the country.”
The MD, who acknowledged the challenge of adulteration, especially in their packages, informed that the company has come up with a scheme and a code that customers can use to identify fake products.
