Shareholders of 11Plc, former Mobil Oil Nigeria Plc, have hailed the company’s consistent dividend payout over the years despite the challenges posed by the post-Coronavirus pandemic crisis and the Russia-Ukraine conflict on the global economy.
The shareholders, who spoke during the company’s 45th Annual General Meeting (AGM) held at Abuja Continental Hotel, described as impressive and heart-warming a hefty dividend payout of N8.50k per share for the financial year.
Some of the shareholders said that the performance vindicated their decision to support the new investor’s acquisition of a majority stake in the former downstream petroleum industry subsidiary of ExxonMobil Corporation in Nigeria.
The Chairman of the Board of the company, Ramesh Kansagra, while presenting his financial statement and reports for the year ended December 31, 2022, said that despite the challenges posed by the post-Coronavirus pandemic crisis, the company still recorded significant progress during the year.
Represented by a Non-Executive Director, Abdulkadir Aminu Mamman, the Chairman expressed confidence that the end of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, which caused disruptions in key energy and commodities exports that resulted in heightened pricing pressures, and severe inflation, would usher in an improvement in Nigeria’s situation.
Reacting to the chairman’s statement, a lawyer and Chairperson of Highly Favoured Shareholders Association, Adetutu Siyanbola, said that the financial highlights of the company were quite impressive and gladdening to investors, even in the face of the country’s harsh economic realities.
Siyanbola said that what was particularly interesting to the shareholders was the meteoric rise in the revenue profile of the company, from 243,457,406 in 2021 to 371,899,701 the following year, a leap of about 53 per cent.
Although she commended the company for approving a dividend payout of N8.50k per share for the financial year, Siyanbola appealed to the Board to raise it further to put smiles on the faces of the shareholders.
She was, however, happy for the increased show of corporate social responsibility by the company, which has traversed several socio-economic facets of life of the populace, while urging for more youth empowerment by way of job creation for the teeming millions of unemployed youth across the country.
The Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of Sani Yau Enterprises, Sani Yau Babura, said that the company’s financial report presented by the Chairman of the Board vindicated the rising profile of 11Plc since 2017 when the new investors acquired a 60 per cent stake of ExxonMobil in Mobil Oil Nigeria Plc.
The growth recorded so far since the acquisition of the company, he noted, was really not a fluke, but a strategic action by the company’s management and board through well-thought-out investment in both human and capital resources to reposition the business.
Citing some of the notable investments, which are gradually yielding fruits, including the LPG plant, improved access to the domestic cooking gas market, and its re-entrance into the aviation market, Babura said that these have ranked the company far ahead of the competition in the sector.
He also commended the management for the dividend payout for the year, saying it further showed the proactive actions by the Board, especially considering the urgency of saving for the rainy day, amid the rising cost of funds in the money markets.
“With more funds for the development of projects, the sky will be the limit for the growth potentials of 11Plc under the new management,” Babura said.
In his comment, the President of the Capital Shareholders Association of Nigeria, Augustine Ezechukwu, commended the communication between the company’s management and shareholders, which he noted has largely improved.
Ezechukwu said that the dissemination of information regarding the operations and management of the company to shareholders has of late been very timely, accurate and continuous, citing the yearly annual report members got in very good time before the meeting.
He said the timely distribution of the annual report gave members a sufficient opportunity to dissect the documents for a better-informed reaction during the meeting.
He pleaded for the return of investors forum, which provides the shareholders room for more cross-fertilization of ideas between investors and management of the company, saying that would be appreciated by the teeming investors of the company.