By Adedapo Adesanya
Shareholders of the Nigeria Mortgage Refinance Company (NMRC) Plc have approved the 43 kobo per share dividend proposed by the board of the company.
The authorisation for the payment of the cash reward was secured by the board at the firm’s Annual General Meeting (AGM) last Wednesday in Lagos.
In the 2019 financial year, the company recorded a 64 per cent growth in profit after tax, which was N3.02 billion compared to the previous year’s N1.84 billion, while its profit before tax stood at N3.09 billion, an increase of 60 per cent over the N1.94 billion recorded in 2018.
In terms of gross earnings, the company recorded a 36 per cent increase from N7.1 billion in 2018 to N9.6 billion in 2019.
In addition, its total assets also increased by 5.2 per cent from N69.3 billion as of December 31, 2018, to N72.9 billion as of December 31, 2019.
Chairman of the company, Mr Charles Adeyemi Candide-Johnson (SAN), while speaking at the AGM, stated that the organisation’s accomplishments in 2019 were commendable given that the year started with the anticipation of some headwinds to the business.
Mr Candide-Johnson noted that even though progress was being made, the company remains committed to its mandate of making housing finance more accessible and affordable for Nigerians particularly in an era where housing availability has come to play a critical role in successfully mitigating the spread and impact of COVID-19.
On his part, the NMRC’s Managing Director, Mr Kehinde Ogundimu, stated that 2019 was a good year for the company with record earnings as well as commendable improvements in NMRC’s financial metrics.
Mr Ogundimu further noted in terms of operational efficiency, that the company’s cost optimization measures continue to yield results as evidenced by the significant reduction in all its expense heads.
Licensed in February 2015, NMRC is aimed at promoting and delivering affordable housing to Nigerians and building modern housing finance for Nigeria in collaboration with other housing stakeholders.
Its key role is mortgage refinancing which it does by raising long-term funds from the capital market to refinance conforming mortgage portfolios of mortgage and commercial banks in Nigeria.
Dipo Olowookere