Red Star Express appoints Aletor, Ndu directors, as turnover reaches N9.46bn in FY2021

Red Star Express Plc, one of the leading logistics companies in Nigeria, recorded a turnover in excess of N9.46 billion for the financial year ended March 31, 2021, the company’s chairman, Suleiman Barau announced during the 28th annual general meeting of the company.

The company recorded a profit before taxation (PBT) of N220.79 million and N150.07 million as the profit after tax (PAT) during the year under review.

According to Barau, the logistics company also grew its balance sheet size by 2.9 percent to N211 million, with total assets and shareholders’ funds closing at N7.5 billion up from N7.3 billion in the previous year.

The annual general meeting was held hybrid with 11 shareholders attending physically and 178 others joining via zoom, holding 543,674,009 units of shares. They voted 5kobo for every 50kobo ordinary shares to be distributed to shareholders as dividend; and N8 million be given as directors’ remuneration. The shareholders urged the company to pay up the dividends in less than seven days.

The shareholders lauded the company for its commitment to business growth, urging the management to explore available room for improvement in order to do better.

The leading logistics firm also appointed new directors, namely, Peter Surulere Aletor and Chukwuemeka Emmanuel Ndu, both of whom held the position of non-executive director.

Peter Aletor, an accountant by training, has over 25 years’ experience in stockbroking. Chukwuemeka Ndu is an accountant with over 35 years’ experience in accounting, money market, project finance, audit and tax consulting.

According to chairman Barau, Red Star Express Plc is committed to remaining steadfast to the socio-economic welfare of its stakeholders, sustained through its Red Star Foundation, which has expanded into new areas.

“Red Star Express Plc through its subsidiaries supported some non-governmental organisations in the free delivery of palliatives in several local communities within Lagos and its environs (during the Covid-19 nationwide lockdown). Red Star Logistics particularly partnered with United Way Greater Nigeria, a US origin NGO to facilitate the delivery of large quantities of food items and other consumables to various communities.

“Our top priority remains the health and safety of our employees, customers and the communities we serve by providing resources for health and safety in all our facilities across the country and our francophone branch offices, whilst also leveraging technology-driven solutions to offer services; and remain committed to our customers,” the chairman explained.

The chief operating officer, Peter Olusola Obabori, appreciated shareholders for their confidence in the logistics company, assuring that these investments will reap returns from the new financial year; even as the global economy continues its recovery from the effects of COVID-19 pandemic.

Obabori informed that the company is currently undertaking a business process reengineering (BPR), to bring about increased productivity, efficiency, cost management, digital transformation and seamless operations.  All the subsidiaries, departments and the group developed a blueprint for new growth platforms such as the e-commerce business unit through rapid customer acquisition and on-boarding, as well as expanding partnerships for the general services agency (GSA) with the airline industry.

Other moves being deployed are: expansion of trucking activities for large manufacturing companies, improved brand expression and brand enhancement initiatives, staff realignments, motivation and training and customer loyalty programmes.

With a successful rights issue in 2020, the company is investing in a new warehouse facility at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos; the vehicle service centre (VSC) on Lagos-Ibadan Expressway and ICT infrastructure, which would be fully actualized in the new financial year, with more visible impact on productivity in the medium-long term.

Red Star Express is a licensee of US based Federal Express (FedEx) Corporation, the world’s largest delivery solutions provider. It has over 150 offices in Nigeria, with international offices in Niger Republic, Burkina Faso and Benin Republic. Its network spans over 1,500 communities in Nigeria and 214 countries worldwide. It has four divisions and business units specializing in express delivery, logistics, freight, outsourcing services, supply chain management, e-commerce facilitation, printing and packaging, e-archiving, and agro-trade logistics.