Shareholders of FrieslandCampina WAMCO Nigeria Plc, on Thursday endorsed a final dividend of N7.02 per ordinary share of 50 kobo recommended by the company’s board of directors for the 2017 financial year.
The company, in a statement by its Corporate Affairs Director, Mrs Ore Famurewa, said the board gave the approval at the company’s 45th Annual General Meeting on Thursday in Lagos.
The figure brought the total dividend paid out to N9.22 per 50 kobo share in the year under review, having paid an interim dividend of N2.20 per 50 kobo in October 2017.
The company said it also posted N140 billion turnover in the 2017 financial year.
During the year under review, the company recorded a 13.2 per cent increase in turnover from N123.75 billion in 2016 to N140.08 billion in 2017.
It said that Profit Before Tax (PBT), however, decreased by 20.6 per cent from N19.96 billion in 2017 to N15.86 billion in 2018 due to the fire incident that occurred in the evaporated milk factory.
The company said although 2017 was in many ways a challenging business year, it showed resilience and determination to meet its targets and thrive amidst difficult operating environment.
“In spite of the economic headwinds, the company increased investment to improve operational efficiency by procuring two new sterilisers.
“ A conveyor, two high speed sachet filling machines with improved technology and a dust extractor system to optimize safety in the Powder Plant were also procured.
“FrieslandCampina WAMCO made significant investments in its Dairy Development Programme to increase opportunities in local dairy farming.
“The company invested in an additional milk collection centre, and started the Farmer2Farmer programme.
“These would help to improve milk quality, volume and dairy farming skills through one-on-one coaching by Dutch co-operative member-farmers from Royal FrieslandCampina, The Netherlands.”
Regarding the company’s 2018 outlook, the Managing Director, Mr Ben Langat, explained that some of the challenges it might face included foreign exchange, high inflation rate and low consumer purchasing power.
“We expect consumers to maintain their current spending behaviour of top-up neighbourhood shopping, particularly for milk.
“Availability and affordability will remain major determining factors in purchase decision making.
“FrieslandCampina WAMCO will continue to work within best global practices, leverage opportunities to invest and continue to satisfy our consumers as we maintain our leadership position in the dairy sector,” Langat
