By Modupe Gbadeyanka
Chairman of Conoil Plc, Mr Mike Adenuga, has assured shareholders of the local energy firm of improved earnings into their pocket because of some strategies being mapped out by the board and management to achieve this goal.
At the 49th Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the company last week in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, Mr Adenuga said in the 2018 fiscal year, Conoil came up with a good performance despite challenges of a tough operating environment in the downstream petroleum sector.
According to him, this performance led to the payment of N2 dividend to shareholders this year, sustaining the tradition of delivering good cash rewards to investors of the firm.
He said next year, the company would sustain progress towards delivering superior shareholder value.
“Every segment of our business will continue to receive the desired attention with a view to maintaining world class levels of operating and capital discipline.
“We believe that the future holds a lot of promise for our shareholders, the company will surely reward them for their steadfastness and unwavering faith in its prospects,” Mr Adenuga said.
He said further that, “We managed the challenges properly and ended the year creditably. We embarked on strategic cost reduction, while ensuring that the future growth potential of our business was not sacrificed.
“I want to assure all stakeholders and shareholders that the company will not relent in its efforts to maintain its leading position in the downstream petroleum sector.
“We will develop new initiatives in product development, service delivery and best practices, while delivering value to all our stakeholders.”
In the period under review, Conoil increased its profit before tax by 11.4 percent to N2.6 billion from N2.3 billion in 2017, while profit after tax soared to N1.8 billion from N1.6 billion, representing 13.8 percent increase. In addition, the turnover grew by 5.8 percent to N122 billion from N115 billion.