By Moses Ebosele, ebosele@hotmail.com —
Shareholders of Nigerian Aviation Handling Company Plc (NAHCO Aviance) have endorsed proposal by the company’s Board to pay N406million dividend, amounting to 25 kobo per share for the year ended December 31, 2018.
Within the financial year, the Company recorded a total revenue of N9.83billion, representing an increase of about N1.9billion.
Addressing shareholders at the 38th Annual General Meeting (AGM), Chairman of NAHCO Aviance, Dr. Seinde Oladapo Fadeni explained that the increase in revenue is 24 per cent year on year increase over the 2017 revenue figures.
According to him, the gross profit margin in the year 2018 was 32 %, which is an increase of 3% when compared to 2017 gross profit margin of 29%.
Also, operating costs increased by 19% while administrative expenses increased by 27%.
Meanwhile, Profit After Tax (PAT) dropped significantly from N775.8million in 2017 to N196.8 million in 2018.
The Chairman explained that the overall profit for 2018 was burdened by the increased costs of operations, and administrative expenses.
The chairman said: “These have been taken onboard by the new management and are being addressed to ensure that our Company will not suffer such consequences in the future.
“We have embarked on cost rationalization, we are clear about our market and competitive landscape including service delivery improvement strategy.
“Definitely our performance in the future will be better than the past, provided we get all stakeholders’ support to faithfully implement our strategy. It is my belief that our Company will grow more rapidly in the coming years in light of the measures and innovations being implemented.
“It is in view of this, that the Board has made a concerted effort to revamp the fortunes of NAHCO Aviance Plc through a transformation agenda, drawn up with KPMG.
“This transformation agenda includes our five-year strategic plan and this plan is anchored on five strategic pillars, and three key enablers. These strategic transformation pillars are: Operational Excellence, Digital Transformation, People & Culture Transformation, Organic & Inorganic Growth, and Diversification. The key enablers include Adequate Funding & Capitalisation, Financial Grip, and Enhanced Risk Management.
Speaking in similar vein, the Managing Director, Mrs. Olatokunbo Fagbemi said the “New NAHCO” is harnessing the strengths and opportunities of the Group Structure to drive growth and profit.
Mrs Fagbemi said: The “New NAHCO“ is focused on retaining existing customers and on-boarding new customers. Our “New NAHCO” is focused on strong balance sheet, P&L and enhanced free cashflow. Our “New NAHCO” is focused on consistently delivering value to all stakeholders.
“The management is grateful to the Board for its timely approval of an asset renewal plan and the aggressive purchase of Ground Support Equipment (GSEs) and Cargo handling equipment worth over N3.0 Billion in year 2019.
“The Board’s strategic wisdom at making that decision at the time it did is greatly appreciated as this will ensure continuation of critical service to our valued clients and reduce maintenance and fueling costs.
“We have taken delivery of some of the equipment while others are still being expected.
“Our approved plan to replace our ageing equipment is an essential ingredient in our renewed resolve to provide exceptional service to our clients.
“The process of complete overhaul of our equipment will surely take a few years, but we have started with the important first steps.
“We have embarked on an expansion of our export warehouse. This is as a result of the increase in the volume of cargo that we have been witnessing and certain operational and security requirements from international regulators. A visit to the Warehouse in Lagos will show that NAHCO now has a bigger hall for cargo export processing.
“We are also investing in a processing and packaging centre to support the agents and exporters in packaging and standardizing their goods. We are exploring options to make this happen. This is of value even to the national export value chain, because one of the major reasons many Nigerian products are rejected abroad is due to inadequate/ poor packaging”.
