From Fred Ezeh, Abuja
Shareholders of Julius Berger Nigeria Plc at the weekend openly registered their discontent at its 47th annual general meeting of the company that ended in Abuja weekend, on hearing of the huge loss the company recorded in the financial year that ended December 31, 2016.
Their fears were confirmed when the Chairman of the company, Mr. Mutiu Sumonu announced that their investment in the company yielded zero profit in form of dividends in the 2016 financial .
While some shareholders sympathized with the construction over the huge financial loss majorly caused by inflation and volatility in Federal Government’s foreign exchange policy, others reacted angrily insisting that the company ought to have introduced “bonus dividends” to the shareholders.
Company chairman had in his opening address apologised to the shareholders for its inability to pay dividends, attributing it to unprecedented shrink in economic activities that came with far reaching consequences.
He said: “Julius Berger and its subsidiaries were not insulated from Nigeria’s economic harsh realities. Besides, this was the first time in the history of our operations in Nigeria that Julius Berger Nigeria ended the financial year in loss. As a result, the directors decided not to pay dividends for the financial year ended December 31, 2016, in order to keep the company afloat.”
Sumonu highlighted other factors that, perhaps, compounded the critical situation to include persistent drop in crude oil prices, reduced oil production, accelerated inflation, naira devaluation, shortage of foreign currency. “Collectively, they magnified hardship, thus making economic turnaround increasingly tough,” he added.
He explained that the construction industry was worst hit due to increased operating cost, and foreign exchange losses coupled with continued reduction of client spending against investment and development.
He however, assured the shareholders and clients that years ahead would be better, judging by the economic recovery policies and programmes being initiated by the federal government.