- Odu’a Approves N277.7m Dividend for Shareholders
The Chairman, Odu’a Investment Company Limited, Olusola Akinwumi, has announced N698m as the profit before tax made by the conglomerate for the financial year ending December 31, 2017.
The announcement was made at the Annual General Meeting of the conglomerate held at its headquarters, the Cocoa House, in Ibadan on Wednesday,
The company, owned by the six South-West states, also approved the payment of N277.78m as dividend.
It noted that the effective implementation of the Federal Government’s Economic Growth Recovery Programme had continued to wean the country off its dependence on oil with stronger agricultural performance.
The chairman said that a sizeable number of clients and tenants in rented commercial, retail and residential properties defaulted in rent payment in the year under review.
Akinwumi stated, “Overall cost increase due to inflation and the devaluation of currency the previous year pushed operating costs upward. The group revenue of N4.06bn in 2017 amounted to 3.8 per cent increase over the 2016 figure of N3.9bn. We assure shareholders and directors of commitment to strict adherence to highest standards of corporate governance and ethical leadership.
“The coming of Lagos State into Odu’a as one of the investing states is good for the regional integration agenda. We shall continue to work out the synergy to drive the socio economic development of the western region.”
We recently embarked on full buy back of minority holding, leading to 100 per cent of one of the moribund manufacturing outfits in the group, Cocoa Industry Limited, Ikeja, for the better utilisation of its facilities in joint ventures.”
To earn more income, the chairman said the company invested in commercial cultivation of tomatoes on a portion of its 3,500 hectares of arable farmland in Imeko, Ogun State, noting that the ultimate goal was the establishment of a processing plant for tomato paste and concentrate for value addition and socio economic development of the community.
The Group Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Odu’a Investment Company, Adewale Raji, said over the past few years, the board and management of the company had realised that achieving sustainable growth required diversification of its income sources.
He added that despite challenges, the company was working hard to overcome various business environment hurdles.
