Shareholders of Fidson Healthcare Plc have approved a dividend payment of N225 million for the 2018 financial year at the company’s Annual General Meeting in Lagos on Thursday.
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The Chairman, Fidson Healthcare, Mr. Segun Adebanji, while speaking during the AGM and Nairametrics was there, noted that the board proposed a dividend of 15 kobo per ordinary share.
He said the company continued in its focus of creating more investment for shareholders during the year as the firm’s turnover grew from N14.05 billion in 2017 to N16.23 billion by the end of 2018 and its loss after tax was N97.44 million compared to a net profit of N1.06 billion in 2017.
According to him, the loss was a result of the increase in the cost of sales and logistics due to inflationary impact.
He said, “During the year, we had cause to reduce the prices of some products to improve our competitiveness in the industry. Our finance cost also increased by 100% due to increased borrowing to meet working capital needs and capital expenditure.
“There was also the incident of a glitch in the new ERP deployed in 2017 that was detected shortly before the 2018 audit exercise. The error was corrected and the associated increase in the cost of production was absorbed in the 2018 accounts. Lessons have been learnt from the incident, resulting in a strengthened finance and accounting system in the company.”
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He added that the company had continued to strengthen its operating facility with expansion and retooling and that old machines and equipment had been disused and replaced with modern ones.
“Through various capital injections, business realignment and useful industry alliance, the Board and management are poised to reposition the business in order to take advantage of the growth opportunities in the market. Our capital structure received attention in the form of lowering the gearing level and we believe this would impact positively on the company’s profitability,” he added.
