By Dipo Olowookere
Shareholders of GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Nigeria (GSK) Plc will receive a total dividend of N7.50k per share for the 2017 financial year.
This comprises a special dividend of N7.10k per share and ordinary dividend of 40 kobo per share for the period.
Cumulatively, this amounts to N8.97 billion dividend payment, with N8.49 billion as special dividend and N478.4 million as ordinary dividend.
The payment, which is to be paid on May 25, 2018, a day after the annual general meeting in Lagos, was approved by the board of directors of GSK at its meeting held over the weekend.
GSK has recently been distributing its surplus capital as special dividend to shareholders after it concluded sales of segment of its business to other investors. GSK had in 2016 concluded a N22.6 billion divestment of its drinks business to the Japanese group, Suntory Beverage and Food Limited (SBF).
GSK Nigeria transferred the ownership to Suntory Beverage & Food Nigeria Limited, a subsidiary of the SBF, on October 1, 2016.
Its drinks business included the two iconic brands-Lucozade and Ribena. The sale included the company’s business of manufacturing, bottling, marketing, distributing and selling of the Ribena and Lucozade brands in Nigeria and all assets attached to or deployed in connection with the business.
Following intense negotiations on May 31, 2016, GSK Nigeria and Suntory had agreed to the terms of the proposed sale of the drinks business for a headline price of $79.2 million. Suntory Beverage & Food Nigeria Limited is a subsidiary of the Japanese group, Suntory Beverage and Food Limited (SBF), a leading soft drinks company with total sales of £6.6 billion.
After the conclusion of the divestment deal, GSK Nigeria had in 2016 paid a special dividend of N716 million to shareholders, representing 60 kobo per share.
Now, the retained business of GSK Nigeria would be its consumer healthcare wellness, oral healthcare, nutrition and pharmaceutical and vaccines businesses.
During last weekend’s meeting, the board approved the healthcare firm’s audited report and accounts for the year 2017.
