Caverton Group, a major provider of marine, aviation and logistics services, has begun the maintenance of the Benin Republic Presidential Air Fleet.
This was disclosed by the Chief Executive Officer of Caverton Offshore Support Group Plc, Olabode Makanjuola, via a statement signed by the company secretary, Amaka Obiora on Wednesday.
According to the statement, Makanjuola made the disclosure on the sidelines of the ongoing Nigerian Oil and Gas (NOG) Conference, as the firm was also now heavily involved in the maintenance of fleets belonging to the Nigerian armed forces.
What Caverton is saying about the project
Makanjuola stated, “In a major boost for Nigerian companies, Caverton Group, a major provider of marine, aviation and logistics services, has begun the maintenance of the Benin Republic Presidential Air Fleet.
“The firm was also now heavily involved in the maintenance of fleets belonging to the Nigerian armed forces. We also unveiled a 40-seater prototype water bus, which will support its marine transport, especially across coastal areas in the country.”
Makanjuola noted that the company holds about 60 to 70% market share in Nigeria, adding that when it noticed that the aviation sector was struggling with maintenance and training, it built the first-ever maintenance, repair and overhaul centre in Lagos.
According to him, Nigerians do not have to fly any of their aircraft out of the country for major repairs anymore, since the company is able to take an aircraft apart, work on it and put it all back together.
“One of the interesting things is that we do that for our entire fleet and we now do third party as well. So, the Nigerian Navy, Nigerian Air Force and even the Presidential fleet of Benin Republic actually use our services. The idea is to create a hub in Sub-Saharan Africa for this sort of operation,” he stressed.
The CEO noted that when the firm first started operations, 80% of all its pilots were expatriates, while today, 75% to 90% are Nigerians.
Because a lot of the boats in the country were of low quality, Makanjuola said to enhance safe water travel, it came into the market to change the narrative.
He added: “We were able to build our first prototype boat which is oil industry standard, meaning that it is very safe and we are very proud of it as it is our newest project.
“It can also be used as a crew boat for the International Oil Companies (IOCs). We are looking at all the riverine areas, we have got people interested in this in Akwa Ibom, Rivers, among others.”
In case you missed it
- Nairametrics had reported that the company recently released its 2021 FY results revealing it recorded a whopping loss after tax of N4.3 billion compared to a profit after tax of N1.1 billion in 2020 which ironically was a Covid-19 year.
- That year, the result was a 74% drop from the N4.3 billion profit reported in 2019 which was its best year yet. Well, 2021 has now seen things go from bad to worse with its worst result in at least 5 years. So, what happened?
- According to the company, the loss was due to the impact of the “Covid-19 pandemic” and other factors which it claims had “negatively impacted business operations in Nigeria and the rest of the world” thus leading to the losses. As they say, the devil is in the details.
- A cursory review of the company’s financial statement reveals the losses were due to a spike in its cost of sales, the direct cost of doing business.