Finance firm records profit
KONTIKI Finance recorded a significant increase in its profit from $3.7 million to $9.3m this year.
This was revealed by the chairman Daryl Tarte after the company's annual general meeting in Suva yesterday.
“The aim of every company is to maximise returns and if it's a publicly listed company like ours it's to maximise returns to the shareholders,” he said.
Mr Tarte said this was a direct result of the firm being innovative but also looking and dealing with businesses in a different way.
“It's not just a question of somebody coming in and asking to borrow money,” he said.
“We got to find ways to make it easier and comfortable and possible for them and there are lots of different ways of doing business.
“Too many businesses are stereotyped in the way they deal with customers but we try to be different.
"Innovation was how businesses all over the world grew and running their operations slightly differently.”
Mr Tarte said the world was going through a bit of a difficult period at the moment with the China/US confrontation which was causing ripples in the financial markets.
“Some of that could spread over the Pacific region and if does it could spread over to Fiji and that could have an effect.
“It would slow down businesses and it would make them a lot tougher but as far as we are concerned it is going to be business as usual, we will do things we have always done it and try and do it better.”
One of the key appointments to the board was Barry Whiteside as additional director.
“He was appointed at the end of last year and he is on our board and he is keeping us on our toes, because in this business there is a great deal of compliance.
“Compliance of rules and regulations imposed by all kinds of bodies and big finance company like this requires you to be very vigilant in managing other people’s money.”
However he said the firm was not there to make a profit out of everybody, as we have got social responsibilities too and we support a lot of organisations like that such as the Fiji Cancer Society, Dilkusha Home etc as part of their social responsibility.
“It is very important, we got a social conscious, all the people that work for us involved in everything in Fiji.
“They are aware of the needs of the people so we got a social conscious which we must satisfy,” he said.