Shareholders of Nigerian Breweries Plc, Nigeria’s foremost brewer has approved the dividend payout of N7.52 billion for the 2020 financial year.
The approval was given at the 75th Annual General Meeting of the company held at MUSON Centre in Lagos on Thursday, April 22 even as the company assured the shareholders of its commitment to continually improve the return on their investments.
Speaking during the AGM, shareholders noted that the total dividend payout comes as a result of the exceptional performance recorded by the company for the 2020 financial year.
They stated that the 2020 results contained in the audited report and the 100% dividend payout is a strong reflection of the company’s stability as well as its resilience in the face of the global pandemic and operating challenges in the economy.
Shareholders who were in attendance expressed appreciation to the board and management of the company for exhibiting the great capacity to keep the company going and stable amid the global pandemic and other operating challenges confronting it.
Speaking during the Q and A section of the meeting, shareholders gave kudos to the company for making a total dividend payment at a time when most listed companies find it hard to pay dividends to their shareholders.
One of the shareholders, Boniface Okezie who spoke at the meeting hailed the board and management of Nigerian Breweries Plc for helping to maintain a strong and healthy balance sheet amidst recession and inflation that had affected businesses and the Nigerian economy in general.
According to Okezie, the fact that the company remains competitive despite the huge impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on businesses demonstrates the uniqueness of the cost-saving measures deployed.
“Despite the impact of the recession and COVID-19 pandemic, the company was still able to maintain stability. This goes to show the quality of leadership at the company. I must confess that the board and management have done well to keep to its promise of paying dividends. We can only hope that they keep up the tempo so that we can receive higher dividends in the next financial year,” he said
In his remarks at the meeting, the Chairman of Nigerian Breweries Plc, Chief Kola Jamodu explained that each shareholder would receive a final dividend of N0.69k at an ordinary share of 50k, having received an interim dividend of 25k.
On his part, the Company Secretary/Legal Director, Nigerian Breweries Plc, Uaboi Agbebaku disclosed that the 2020 financial year recorded a significant boost in sales volume even though the cost of sales rose from N191.76billion to N218.36billion.
Agbebaku who was optimistic about the growth of the company going forward noted that the company would continue to give utmost priority to the welfare of its shareholders in its decision making.
A breakdown of the company’s audited results shows that its Profit After Tax (PAT) recorded for the 2020 financial year stood at N7.52billion while net revenue increased sharply from N323 billion to 337.01billion between 2019 and 2020, representing a 4.3 per cent rise.
Marketing and Distribution Expenses reduced from N77.70 billion in 2019 to N70.7billion in 2020, while Administrative expenses also dipped by 1.79 per cent from N19.30 billion to N18.96 billion, which was largely informed by the elimination of bad costs.
