By Modupe Gbadeyanka
The shocking poor performance of Transcorp Plc in the 2019 financial year is giving its board something to worry about. In order to turn the fortunes of the company around, the board is considering some actions.
In the 2019 fiscal year, the turnover of the conglomerate depreciated sharply to N76.35 billion from N104.16 billion in 2018.
Also, the profit before tax went down to N7.9 billion from N22.4 billion, while the profit after tax fell to N3.79 billion from N20.63 billion, with the earnings per share tumbling to 4 kobo from 23 kobo.
Due to the results, the board could only manage to propose a dividend of one kobo to shareholders of the company and worried by the disappointing performance indicators, the board is making moves to restructure its business.
Later this month, shareholders of Transcorp will gather in Abuja for its Annual General Meeting (AGM) and the board would be seeking their approval to restructure the conglomerate.
According to a notice from the firm, shareholders would be expected to consider and vote on a resolution authorising the directors to “carry out restructuring, reorganisation, or reconstruction of the company or a combination of any of such actions or other business arrangements as they deem appropriate”.
The board will also want an approval to consider various options, including investing in, acquiring or divesting from any business or entity by way of a scheme or otherwise.
According to Chairman of Transcorp, Mr Tony Elumelu, the power subsidiary of the conglomerate, Transcorp Power Limited, would be investing as much as $2.5 billion in power projects to help boost power supply in Nigeria.
He said the company has so far injected about $1 billion in projects with a combined capacity of 700 megawatts while the company is also bidding for Afam Electricity Generation Company, which operates a natural-gas fired power generation plant in southern Rivers State.
The company has expressed optimism that the various strategies being mapped out by management will yield the expected results.