NAHCo Announces N406m Dividend Payout, Grows Q1 Turnover

• NAHCo Announces N406m Dividend Payout, Grows Q1 Turnover

The Board of Directors of Nigerian Aviation Handling Company Plc has recommended a dividend payment of N406m to shareholders for the year ended December 31, 2017.

The dividend is expected to be approved by shareholders at the forthcoming Annual General Meeting of the company. The payout translates to 25 kobo per share.

NAHCo, in a statement on Sunday, said despite 2017 challenges, it was able to end the year with a higher profit after tax. The company recorded a turnover of N7.926bn in 2017, compared with N7.956bn in 2016.

The finance cost dropped from N545m in 2016 to N213m in 2017, while PAT stood at N776m in 2017 from N581m in 2016. The firm provides aircraft, passenger and cargo handling services and other related services.

Its bottom-line showed an increase of 34 per cent and earnings per share improved from 36 kobo to 48 kobo. The board therefore, recommended a dividend payment of 25 kobo, which is higher than the 22 kobo paid the previous year.

For the Q1 ended March 31, 2018, NAHCo also recorded a growth in PAT. In the results filed with the Nigerian Stock Exchange, NAHCo reported a turnover of N2.188bn, up from N1.786bn compared to the corresponding period of 2017.

The Finance income rose from N30.916m to N64.495m, while the company was able to reduce finance cost to N44.536m from N55.715m in 2017.

Its profit before tax went up to N117.405m in 2018, compared with N1.026m in 2017, while PAT followed same trajectory, rising to N97.566m from N1.026m in 2017.

The Q1 results are the first set of results produced by the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Idris Yakubu, who took over the running of the company in November 2017.

The Chairman, NAHCo, Usman Bello, had informed the shareholders that in spite of the recession and the global weakness in the aviation sector, the company’s performance was commendable.

“Our resilience as a company and our debt management strategies resulted in Bond I repayment of the N2.15bn in the third quarter of 2016,” he said.

Speaking on the diversification programme, Bello noted that NAHCo Free Trade Zone that was approved by shareholders in 2011 as a subsidiary of the company, had achieved some milestones.

Some of the services offered by the NFZ include supply chain management, logistics, equipment leasing and other value-added services. Phase I of its development has been completed and now operating at almost full capacity. The company is currently making preparations to start building phase II of its masterplan, according to the statement.