THE NIPCO Plc. has reaffirmed commitment to offering good returns to its shareholders through consistent dividend payment following improved performance of the company for the year ended December 31, 2017.

Bestman Anekwe, chairman, NIPCO, who disclosed this in his address at the company’s 14th Annual General Meeting, AGM, held in Hotel, Abuja, reiterated the steadfastness of the board to continuously propel the management to greater heights.

He noted that the firm’s commitment to its shareholders is hinged on providing good yield on their investment, stressing that inspite of the challenging operating environment, the board resolve to maintain the same level of dividend as in the previous year.

NIPCO’s turnover for the 2017 financial year grew by 35 percent from N170 billion in 2016 to N205 billion while profit-after-tax rose from N1.8 billlion in 2016 to N2.1 billion in 2017.

The board therefore recommended a cash dividend of 300kobo amounting to total dividend payout of N563million which was unanimously approved by the shareholders.

Anekwe noted that the company’s footprint in the industry is getting stronger and deeper with the recent acquisition of ExxonMobil’s 60 percent equity in Mobil Oil Nigeria Plc through our subsidiary – NIPCO Investments Limited

In his own comments, Sanjay Teotia, managing director, said the future is bright for the company despite the challenges in the downstream sector, stressing that management would continue to place emphasis on transforming the firm’s systems and processes to deliver meaningful value to stakeholders.

Said he: “We are not oblivious of the fact that to achieve the foregoing, we must improve on our core competencies and exploit business ventures and opportunities “.

The managing director stated that management would remain focused on pursuing major targets inclusive of growing NIPCO market share in petroleum products marketing as well as increasing the visibility of its retail outlets across the country.

Sanjay expressed the company’s resolve to continue to align with government in providing access to LPG as cooking fuel at affordable rates, stressing that the technical commissioning of the largest sphere in Africa by the company in 2017 is a pointer to the organization resolve to deepen domestic gas utilization

Said he : “Our gas stations remains first choice outlets as consumers are assured of clean energy for cooking at the right quality, quantity at very competitive rates “  .

He noted that this feat was also acknowledged by the National Association of LPG Marketers, NALPGAM, who gave an award to NIPCO as the 2017 best LPG marketing company of the year.

According to him, NIPCO is upbeat of improved performance taking into consideration the organization’s highly motivated and skilled employees as well as excellent customer service delivery across its business lines.

– Jul. 20, 2018 @ 11:39 GMT