CSCS Plc will pay a final dividend of ₦3.5 billion

The management of Central Securities Clearing System Plc earlier  this week received shareholders’ approval to pay a final dividend of ₦3.5 billion for the financial year ended December 2017. This translates to 70 kobo per share.

The shareholders gave the approval during the company’s 24th Annual General Meeting, during which they commended the management for their performance in 2017 and specifically for their decision to pay dividends despite the unfavourable business environment.

They, however, called for improvements in subsequent years, while also urging the company’s management to work towards tackling the problem of unclaimed dividends.

Meanwhile, the company’s Chairman, Oscar Onyema, who doubles as the CEO of the Nigerian Stock Exchange, also used the occasion to speak about CSCS’ commitment to excellent business practice.

He stated that the company is currently one of Africa’s highly ranked CSDs, a development he said will go a long way towards supporting their desire to become Africa’s investment hub.

Based on our continued commitment to excellent, we are one of the highest rated CSDs in Africa with an ‘A’, which is a low overall risk rating, an improvement from the ‘A-’ rating in 2016 from Thomas Murray, the world renowned CSD rating agency. Our target for 2018 is to improve our rating further by achieving an A+ rating. -Oscar Onyema

Onyema also spoke about the company’s strategic plans for the next five years which he said will focus on the following factors-

• Customer satisfaction
• technology improvement
• Process optimisation and
• strategic partnerships, etc.

Note that Central Securities Clearing System Plc was incorporated in 1992 and positioned to serve as a financial market infrastructure (FMI) for the Nigerian capital Market. According to the company’s full-year financial report for 2017, gross earnings experienced a 41% increase having risen from ₦6.2 billion in 2016 to ₦8.7 billion in 2017. Profit after tax had also increased from ₦3.5 billion in 2016 to ₦4.9 billion in 2017.