Unilever shareholders applaud 2018 performance, N1.50 dividend
Oluwaseun Afolabi is Businessamlive Reporter.
You can contact him on afolabi.oluwaseun@businessamlive.com with stories and commentary.
Shareholders of Unilever Nigeria Plc on Thursday hailed the board and management of the company for the impressive performance recorded in 2018, as well as the dividend payout of N1.50 per share.
The shareholders gave the commendation at the 94th annual general meeting in Lagos. Unilever posted profit after tax (PAT) of N9.1 billion for the 2018 financial year, which increased by 29 percent.
Speaking at the meeting, a shareholder representative, Boniface Okezie, said, “I want to especially commend the management of Unilever for a job well done, we as shareholders are proud of our company”.
“It should also be commended that given the economic challenges we as a company have faced in recent times, we still get our dividend, and this year, we are getting N1.50, that is a very pleasant thing. I also noticed that board meeting attendances were really good, it shows the commitment of the board and that has translated into the good result we are celebrating today”
Another shareholder, Esther Augustine expressed delight at the 2018 figure and asked that the staffs of the company should also get some credit. She said, “the indices here are commendable, and I think the staffs who were part of the baking of this cake, should be given due credit.”
Also, speaking at the meeting, Nonah Awoh, who commended the company for the performance, equally tasked the management to do more in terms of reducing the unclaimed dividend, which stood at N466 million in 2018
In his address to shareholders, Nnaemeka Achebe, chairman of the board of directors, said, the company made good strides in its growth strategies as shown in the results.
Achebe said, “Notwithstanding the pressure and disruption in the business operating landscape, Unilever’s fundamentals held strong in 2018.”
“The company made good strides in its growth strategies, a look at the result, you will see that turnover from continuing operations grew by 9 percent from N85 billion in 2017 to N92 billion in 2018. Clearly, the results are a reflection of our company’s entrenched values of creating a brighter future for our citizens through a wide range of portfolio”
Yaw Nsarkoh, the managing director of Unilever Nigeria, used the medium to inform the shareholders that the Blue Band section of the company, had been sold and the company was working on new products and ways to make up for the revenue void to be caused by the sales of the spread section.