Economy
Shareholders Laud BUA Foods for Almost 400% Rise in Stock Price
By Dipo Olowookere
The board and management of BUA Foods Plc have been praised for delivering value for shareholders, especially with its stock price appreciation since the company joined the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited.
The organisation received the commendation at its second Annual General Meeting (AGM) last week at the Transcorp Hilton Hotel in Abuja.
At the event, shareholders approved the N4.50 dividend proposed by the board for the 2022 financial year, amounting to N81 billion.
One of the shareholders who spoke at the yearly gathering, Mr Umar Farouk, said the payment of the cash reward was commendable, applauding the board and management for upholding the vision, mission and values of the business as evidenced by the share price growth which has appreciated by almost 400 per cent since listing.
BUA Foods listed its shares by introduction on Wednesday, January 5, 2022, at N40 per share, and at the close of business on Friday, September 15, 2023, it traded at N185 per unit, representing a 362.5 per cent increase.
The Chairman of the firm, Mr Abdul Samad Rabiu, expressed his gratitude to the shareholders for their unwavering support, saying this has been instrumental in the company’s outstanding performance since its inception.
“Building on the successful merger of our different businesses in 2021, we achieved greater synergies and efficiency within the year, which resulted in a 30.9 per cent growth in our profit after tax.
“Despite the effects of global supply chain disruptions caused by the Russian-Ukraine conflict, we continued to intensify our effort in creating value and expanding our capabilities across all operating divisions; of particular mention is the commencement of commercial production of our Rice operations,” he noted.
“In respect of our expansion/growth strategy, we are commercializing our second flour & pasta plant with respective additional capacities of 800,000MTpa and 500,000MTpa, completing expansion work on our sugar refinery intended further to enhance our regional and global market expansion drive and looking forward to the contribution of our 200,000MTpa rice mill in Kano to the overall performance of the entity within the next fiscal year.
“We will continue to support the overall economic strategy of eat what we grow and grow what we eat through sustained investment in the expansion of our domestic cultivation of the raw material inputs through our 20,000-hectare sugar plantation in Lafiagi and our Paddy rice project to lessen dependence on imported raw materials,” the billionaire businessman added.
On his part, the Managing Director BUA Foods, Mr Ayodele Abioye, said, “We had a great financial year post-listing on the NGX, with our wealth creation journey remarkably boosted by the investing public and institutions’ participation. Year-end market capitalisation was N1.17 trillion from N720 billion.
“Despite the unending economic headwinds, our business delivered strong financial results characterized by revenue growth of 25.5 per cent to N418 billion from all operating divisions.
“Gross Profit grew by 29.0 per cent to N132.7 billion, while net profit grew to N91.3 billion from N69.8 billion in 2021. Earnings per share went up to N5.07, compared to N4.24 in the full year 2021.
“We will continue to drive our business growth, leveraging the commercialisation of additional capacities in our flour & pasta division as well as activating additional revenue generation from our rice division with a sustained focus on deepening our local and export market.
“We target to deliver double-digit growth across our core financial and operational performance metrics.”
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) is seeking a reduction in import duty exemptions, which rose to N34 trillion, limiting its ability to increase its revenue generation threshold.
The Comptroller-General of the Customs Service, Mr Adewale Adeniyi, disclosed that the value of import duty exemption certificate approvals increased to that level in 2025, describing the policy as one of the major factors restricting its revenue generation.
At an investigative session of the Senate Committee on Finance with revenue-generating agencies in Abuja on Monday, Mr Adeniyi explained that government fiscal policies have continued to impact the revenue-generating capacity of the Customs Service, both positively and negatively.
“The NCS would have generated significantly higher revenue over the years if not for government-approved import duty waivers and other external factors affecting collections,” he said.
He added that the Import Duty Exemption Certificate scheme, introduced in March 2020, accounted for about N34 trillion in approvals in 2025, with nearly 60 per cent covering duty-free importation of military hardware due to Nigeria’s prevailing security challenges.
Other government-backed duty waivers, he noted, covered the importation of Compressed Natural Gas (CNG), electric and hybrid vehicles, healthcare equipment and medical supplies, industrial machinery and manufacturing inputs, as well as food import intervention programmes.
While acknowledging the impact of the waivers on Customs revenue, Mr Adeniyi argued that fiscal policy should not be assessed solely on the basis of revenue generation but also on its broader economic and social objectives.
He, however, urged the federal government to establish stronger monitoring mechanisms to ensure beneficiaries of duty waivers deliver the intended economic outcomes, including lower consumer prices, increased local production and improved healthcare access.
The committee also expressed displeasure over the absence of several heads of government agencies invited to the hearing, including the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN), Industrial Training Fund (ITF), and the Federal Medical Centre (FMC), Jabi.
The Chairman of the Senate Committee on Finance, Mr Sani Musa, warned that the affected chief executives must appear at the committee’s next sitting or face severe sanctions under the Senate’s rules.
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By Adedapo Adesanya
The NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange rose by 0.40 per cent on Monday, July 13, buoyed by buying interest in 11 Plc, Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS) Plc and UBN Property Plc, which offset the profit-taking in Food Concepts Plc, the parent company of Chicken Republic.
11 Plc gained N20.69 to end at N227.64 per share compared with last Friday’s price of N206.95 per share, CSCS Plc grew by N1.83 to N91.48 per unit from N89.65 per unit, and UBN Property Plc added 1 Kobo to sell at N1.81 per share versus N1.80 per share.
On the flip side, Food Concepts Plc depreciated by 24 Kobo to close at N2.45 per unit, in contrast to the preceding session’s N2.69 per unit.
As a result, the market capitalisation increased by N9.2 billion to N2.587 trillion from N2.578 trillion, and the NASD Security Index (NSI) improved by 15.33 points to 4,311.67 points from 4,296.34 points.
Yesterday, the volume of securities traded by investors surged by 615.9 per cent to 9.1 million units from the previous 1.3 million units, and the value of securities rose by 997.1 per cent to N320.4 million from the preceding session’s N29.2 million, while the number of deals decreased by 12.5 per cent to 28 deals from last Friday’s 32 deals.
At the close of trades, Great Nigeria Insurance (GNI) Plc remained the most active stock by value on a year-to-date basis, with 3.4 billion units valued at N8.4 billion, followed by Infrastructure Credit Guarantee (Infracredit) Plc with 2.3 billion units worth N6.5 billion, and CSCS Plc with 73.9 million units exchanged for N5.2 billion.
GNI Plc also closed the session as the most traded stock by volume on a year-to-date basis, with 3.4 billion units sold for N8.4 billion, followed by Infracredit Plc with 2.3 billion units traded for N6.5 billion, and Resourcery Plc with 1.1 billion units transacted for N415.7 million.
