Africa Prudential Registrars Shareholders Approve N700m Dividend

Goddy Egene

Shareholders of Africa Prudential Registrars (APR) Plc on Wednesday approved the N700 million recommended by the directors for the year ended December 31, 2014. The dividend, which translate into 35 kobo per share, was approve at the second annual general meeting of the company held in Lagos.

Shareholders of the company commended the board and management for the performance despite the challenging environment.

Addressing the shareholders at the meeting, Chairman of the APR Plc, Chief (Mrs) Eniola Fadayomi, said the company’s dividend policy aims at rewarding shareholders by increasing their wealth, consistently.

According to her, though market performance in the first half of the year showed momentary positive runs, the second half was far less impressive.

Despite the inclement operating environment, the company, she said, recorded significant gains when compared to the previous year.

Giving details of the financial performance for the year, Managing Director/ Chief Executive Officer of the company, Mr. Peter Ashade, stated that whereas the total assets stood at N18.9billion, having increased by 15 per cent from N16.4 billion in 2013, group revenue grew from N1.854 billion to N2.256 billion, showing an increase of 22 per cent.

The profit before tax grew by seven per cent from N1.2billion in 2013 to N1.3billion in 2014, while the profit after tax rose by 33 per cent from N900 million to N1.2billion in 2014. Earnings per share increased from 46 kobo to 61 kobo.

While responding to comments from shareholders, Ashade reassured that the company remained true to its goal of becoming the leading and dominant provider of share registration services in Africa.

“As a result, our focus for the year will be to continue to profitably grow our businesses while providing our clients and stakeholders with appropriate alternative solutions. We will strive to manage our operating costs by optimizing our processes while concurrently improving the level of service delivery to our clients” he added.

According to him, in 2015, APR Plc intends to support the regional stock exchange integration that is unfolding and championed by the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) because of the growth opportunities it offers.

“We also expect government reforms in the manufacturing, power, agriculture, and oil and gas sectors to continue to be the key drivers of growth in the Nigerian economy. Within these, we shall tap into new pipelines and take advantage of opportunities in the sectors as they emerge,” he said.

APR Plc is one of the leading share registration service provider in Nigeria and the only one listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange. It specialises in customer-focused, technologically driven service for corporations. APR is driving change within the industry and delivering world-class service in the Nigerian capital market. The company recently introduced online platforms for premium e-Registrar Solutions.

Fifteen vessels laden with various petroleum products including petrol, kerosene, and aviation fuel have arrived the nation’s seaports situated in Lagos.

Data collated by the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) commonly referred to as Shipping Position indicated that the vessels are also laden with rice, containers and general cargoes.

A breakdown of the data which was obtained by THISDAY showed that seven of the ships arrived at the ports with petrol, while one ship each is laden with kerosene and aviation fuel. Containers were brought in three ships, while the only food item, rice in bags, arrived at the port in two ships.

According to the Shipping Position the remaining vessels sailed in with general cargoes. NPA is expecting the arrival of 31 ships at the Lagos ports before April 21, 2015.

It said that 12 of the ships would be expected to sail into the ports with containers, while 12 others would arrive with food products.

The authority said the food products include crude palm oil, bulk sugar, bulk salt, buckwheat and frozen fish.

It also added that one ship each was expected to bring in vehicles and general cargo as the remaining five ships would be expected at the ports with premium motor spirit popularly called petrol.

Meanwhile, the Lagos State government has advised properties owners along the shorelines in Ikoyi, Victoria Island and other parts of the state against dealing with the National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA) on taxes, levies or tariff.

The state’s Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Ade Ipaye, said NIWA does not have constitutional authority or statutory power to assess properties in Lagos for payment of any tax, levy, fee or tariff.

In a statement, Ipaye clarified that under the constitution, the power to assess privately owned houses or tenements for rates is vested in local government authorities by virtue of the fourth schedule to the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

“The Local Government Councils in Lagos State have neither delegated this power to NIWA nor appointed NIWA to act for them in this regard,” he said.

The state government therefore, advised property owners, whom have been served with such demand