Adedapo Adesanya
By Adedapo Adesanya
Caverton Offshore Support Group (COSG) Plc has disclosed that raising additional capital is not the current focus of the group.
This was disclosed by the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the company, Mr Olabode Makanjuola, during a chat with Business Post and two others after the company’s Facts Behind the Figures at the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) in Lagos on Monday.
“We are not exactly coming to the market to raise additional capital. I think one of the things we realized is that we’ve been focused too much on the traditional business,” he said.
Mr Makanjuola admitted that the group’s engagement with the capital market since it joined the NSE in 2014 has been “quite weak,” stating that looking at the company’s debt profile, yesterday’s event was a good opportunity to meet with some of its stakeholders.
“We needed to engage [with the investing community] to make them know what we exactly want to do. We do intend to come to the market at some stage [to raise funds, but] today is not that day.”
Speaking further, he said, “We don’t have a timeline yet [for the capital raising]. Like the CFO (Chief Financial Officer), we’ll be assessing our various contracts and then make a decision based on our capital requirements. We are not coming to the market just because of our debt profile.”
“We are already looking at our debt profile as well as infrastructural development and our expansion drive.”
Earlier at the event, the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of Caverton Offshore, Mrs Titi Adigun, said that the company recorded a total increase of N2.6 billion in its revenue for the nine month period that ended on September 30, 2019.
According to her, Caverton’s revenue for the period stood at N25.8 billion against the N23.3 billion, which was recorded in the same period of 2018 and this was as a result of revenue growth caused by the increase of Helicopter/Airplane contracts and agency service income.
The company also saw an increase in its profit before tax for the period to N3.9 billion from N2.6 billion in 2018 despite a seven percent increase in direct operating costs.
She noted that the administration expenses also increased by N850 million due to rise in employee benefits amounting to N735.5 million and as well as increase in salaries of ground staff.
She further said the group has improved cost efficiencies with liquidity ratio stable under the review period and also having a steady capital adequacy ratio balancing the support for growth initiatives.
Speaking on the company’s Maintenance, Repair, Overhaul (MRO) at the Murtala Muhammed Airport, Lagos, the CEO said this would be “one of its kind” and noted that the group was looking at a completion in Q4 2020.
He, however, called for a better infrastructure, which according to him, is one of the major challenges in the sector.
Caverton Offshore Support Group operates in the marine and aviation logistics sector in Nigeria and Sub-Saharan Africa, and the group is looking at extending operations into Cameroon, Ghana, Equatorial Guinea, Mozambique, and Angola.
Business Post recalls that soon after its Initial Public Offering (IPO) worth $197 million in 2014, Caverton announced plans to raise fresh funds.
