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Shareholders of AshakaCem Plc, a subsidiary of Lafarge Africa Plc have unanimously endorsed a dividend payment of 15 kobo on every ordinary share in issue for the period 2016 financial year, totaling N336 million.
The decision was taken at the company`s 42nd annual general meeting held in Abuja.
The Board presented a scorecard of the company’s performance for the previous year to shareholders at the meeting, which was presided by the Acting Chairman, Edith Onwuchekwa.
In her statement to the shareholders, the Acting Chairman acknowledged the unwavering efforts and commitments the Board of Directors as well as the Management and staff of the Company to ensuring that operations at the production facility continued with minimal interruptions in 2016.“
Despite the challenging economic environment of 2016, Ashakacem maintained optimal operations as production was on schedule with 648,585 metric tonnes cement dispatches, which was 6.5% higher than the 609,000 metric tonnes dispatched in 2015” she declared.
Recounting the immediate benefits of the voluntary delisting of AshakaCem from the Nigerian Stock Exchange and a share swap with Lafarge Africa Plc was agreed at an extraordinary general meeting on 19 December 2016, Onwuchekwa said, “cost saving measures achieved by leveraging on our relationship with Lafarge Africa Plc to reduce our administration, commercial and information technology activities have borne fruit and costs were lower by N2.6 billion.”
Commenting on the way forward for the company, the Managing Director, Rabiu Umar declared that “we expect positive market growth during the year. The early approval of Federal Government budget in the year, as well as the24% increasein allocation for capital expenditure viz a viz 2016 would definitely boost spending on infrastructure and the revenues of cement manufacturers. We are well positioned to take advantage of this as the Star of the North”.
He stated further that Ashakacem’s focus for the current year is “to improve our demand fulfillment capacity, build brand loyalty and improve our cost competitiveness.”
HARRISON EDEH, ABUJA
