FrieslandCampina WAMCO Nigeria Plc has announced a turnover of N126.44bn for the 2014 financial year, five per cent higher than the N120.26bn it reported for 2013.
The company, which produces premium dairy products, including Peak and Three Crowns, provided details of its financial performance at its 42nd Annual General Meeting, which was held in Lagos on Tuesday, a statement by its Corporate Affairs Director, Ore Famurewa, said.
Due to the significant increase in the cost of dairy raw materials, which was not fully passed on to consumers; increased operating expenses and the write-off of export expansion grant already taken into profit in the previous year, the company’s profit before tax fell from N19.31bn to N16.50bn.
The company, however, said its commercial and financial performance remained satisfactory despite the harsh business environment and its Board of Directors recommended a final dividend of N4.33 per ordinary share of 50 kobo each to the shareholders, which was approved by the shareholders.
Having paid an interim dividend of N3.91 per share in November 2014, the company’s total dividend for the year stood at N8.24 per share.
Besides approving the dividend proposal, the shareholders commended the Board and management for the consistent performance despite the slowdown of economic activities and increased challenges in the operating environment.
The company noted that considering the economic activities already playing out this year, headwinds were expected from falling oil prices with its impact on government earnings and consumer spending. Also expected were tighter monetary and fiscal policies with the aim of boosting revenue through higher receipts from income tax, among other things.
“It is, therefore, expected that the Nigerian business environment in 2015 will be challenging,” it said.
The company, however, plans to continue investing its brands, capabilities and people to ensure that it maintains its leadership position in the market.
The Managing Director, FrieslandCampina WAMCO, Mr. Rahul Colaco, told journalists in Lagos on Wednesday that the company had fully upgraded its facilities to world-class standards, while also addressing environmental sustainability through such things as the use of gas instead of diesel for its plants.
Colaco, who said the company had maintained its lead in the dairy industry with its various initiatives, stressed that the company remained guided by its “inspiring mission of nourishing Nigeria with quality dairy nutrition.
According to him, the company further seeks to address issues of nutritional importance – balanced nutrition, social and environmental responsibility and dairy self-sufficiency for the company.
Consequently, he stressed that although the company was in Nigeria to do business, it had a social and environmental responsibility, which it was taking seriously as reflected in its operations and initiatives.
“We have been training people and making sure there is availability of water (among other things),” he said, adding that as the market leader in dairy, the company considered it its responsibility to lead the drive for self-sustenance in dairy for Nigeria.
Colaco added that although the situation in the country would continue to be volatile in the short-term, the future remained very bright and the company was optimistic.
This, he explained, was what had led the company to continue investing in stimulating growth in the industry, investing €20m or N4bn annually.
He added that the company had invested in reviving Three Crowns, which is now available in powder, while Peak 123 for children had be fortified with DHA for brain development with other initiatives to follow.
The FrieslandCampina WAMCO MD said the company, which is celebrating of delivering quality dairy nutrition to customers across Nigeria had numerous programmes lined up to mark the milestone.
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