Africa Prudential Plc shareholders have approved a dividend of 50k per share declared by the company for the financial year ended Dec. 31, 2022.
The shareholders gave the approval at the 10th Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the company on Tuesday in Abuja.
Speaking at the meeting, Sir Olatunji Okelana, a shareholder, commended the company for its 10 years of consistent listing on the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Ltd.
Okelana attributed the company’s success in the nation’s capital market to the hard work of the board members.
He also commended the company for consistency in dividend payment in spite of the challenging environment.
He, however, called for more training of the company’s staff to meet up with the current technological trend.
Another shareholder, Mrs Bola Adetutu, called for improved women representation in the managerial roles of the company.
Mr Moses Igbrude, the National Coordinator, Independent Shareholders Association of Nigeria, appealed to the company to look into the issue of unclaimed dividends with a view to reducing it.
Addressing the shareholders, Mrs Eniola Fadayomi, the Chairman of the company, said in spite of the challenging operating environment in 2022, the company posted gross earnings of N4.1 billion against N3.5 billion in the comparative period of 2021.
Fadayomi said the company recorded a profit before tax of N2.1 billion during the review period against N2 billion in 2021.
She said that the figure represented a year-on-year increase of eight per cent compared to the previous year.
The chairman said notwithstanding the Central Bank of Nigeria projection of a slower economy growth, the company was well positioned with its brand software portfolio to drive sustainable growth.
Mr Obong Idiong, the Managing Director of the company, said they were working with various regulators to address issues of unclaimed dividends.
Idiong said the company had adopted several approaches to tackle the unclaimed dividends challenge.
He added that the company had engaged the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System, the Central Securities Clearing System and stockbrokers to collate legacy data of investors to tackle the unclaimed dividend scourge.
“We also conducted roadshows in various states across the country, where our representatives are physical present to create awareness and engage investors.
“In addition, we launched media campaigns to engage and connect with shareholders.
“We remain committed to exploring new strategies to provide value and support our shareholders.
”During the year, we achieved a total dividend payout of N200,313,678,173.00 which reflected a 98 percent payout ratio within the initial four days, surpassing the 94 percent payout ratio of the previous year.
”Our digital technology services have achieved remarkable revenue growth since their launch in 2019 with an exponential increase of 21.48 percent from 2019 to 2022.
”In 2022, our digital technology services generated revenue of over N1.3 billion surpassing the one billion naira threshold,” Idiong said.
He said the company’s total assets stood at N19.2 billion, representing a 22 percent growth over the 2021 financial year of N15.7 billion.
The News reporters report that the company is a leading share registration and business solutions provider with over four decades experience in the country’s capital market.
Their business tentacles span across share registration services and digital technology services.
