By Modupe Gbadeyanka
Nigeria’s leading diversified conglomerate, Transnational Corporation of Nigeria Plc (Transcorp), is leaving the juice concentrate market.
In 2011, the trio of Teragro, Transcorp and the Benue State government partnered to establish the Teragro Benfruit juice concentrate plant with a capacity of 26,500 metric tonne.
But with Teragro contributing a meagre 0.03 percent to the group’s revenue and 0.21 percent to the total assets, the management of Transcorp feels it is necessary to divest the business venture.
At the firm’s investor conference yesterday, the management said it would sell off its stake in the company based in Benue State.
On Wednesday, August 01, 2018, Transcorp, in a notice to the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), explained that the process of exiting the firm was still ongoing.
It assured that this decision will not in any way affect the fortunes of Transcorp Plc because of its contributions to the company’s overall performance.
“We wish to clarify that the divestment process is still ongoing and has not been concluded,” the statement said.
Business Post reports that in the 2017 financial statements of Transcorp, the board had disclosed that, “We expect to close the transaction in a timely mannaer and maximized benefits for stakeholders and that the decision to exit Teragro is not expected to have any significant impact on the group’s business as Teragro contributed less than 0.03 percent of group revenue and 0.21 percent of group assets.”
Recall that in 2015, Coca-Cola launched a new line of fruit juice made from concentrate: Five Alive Pulpy Orange, and announced Terragro, agribusiness subsidiary of Transcorp as the sole local-concentrate sourcing partner for the product.
Transcorp adduced the decision to imported concentrate being cheaper than local concentrate with Terragro producing pineapple, mango and orange concentrate.
