Custodian Investment to Pay 30 kobo Dividend as Profit Sheds 2.8%

By Modupe Gbadeyanka

The board of Custodian Investment Plc yesterday released the financial statements of the company for the year ended December 31, 2018.

Highlights of the accounts showed a rise in the turnover recorded by the company, growing to N50 billion in FY 2018 from N43.1 billion in FY 2017.

In the year being reviewed, Custodian Investment declared a net income of N15.9 billion, an improvement from the N13.1 billion reported in 2017.

From this, the firm netted N7.2 billion as interest income against N6.2 billion in 2017 FY, N43 billion was generated from other investment and sundry income in contrast to N36.8 billion a year earlier, while N34.3 billion was used in the year for operating expenses versus N30 billion 12 months earlier.

Business Post reports that though the profit before tax rose to N9.5 billion from N8.9 billion, the profit after tax declined by 2.8 percent to N7.1 billion from N7.3 billion.

The statements further showed that the sum of N4.1 billion was realized from fees and commission income higher than N3.4 billion in the 2017 FY, while underwriting expenses gulped N2.87 billion against N2.89 billion in the same period of 2017.

Also during the year under consideration, N15.3 billion was used on net claims expenses compared with N13.9 billion of the preceding year, while N6.4 billion was used for management expenses, higher than N5.8 billion of the previous financial year.

Despite the good performance put up by the Custodian Investment during 2018 fiscal year, its earnings per share dropped to N1.16k from N1.19k.

However, the board has recommended the payment of a final dividend of 35 kobo per ordinary share of 50 kobo each. With 10 kobo paid as interim dividend during the year under review, the total cash dividend payout would be 45 kobo per share, higher than 42 kobo per share of 2017 FY.