By Dipo Olowookere
The Group Managing Director of National Aviation Handling Company (NAHCO), Mrs Olatokunbo Fagbemi, has disclosed that strategies have been mapped out to make shareholders of the company happier.
According to her, the growth recorded by the firm lately would be sustained because of the policies identified and implemented by the management.
In its 2017 financial results, NAHCO ended with higher profit after tax (PAT) despite the effect of the recession a year earlier, closing at N776 million versus N581 million in 2016.
In the same year, the finance cost reduced to N231 million from N545 million in 2016, while the earnings per share improved from 36 kobo to 48 kobo. The board then recommended a dividend payment of 25 kobo above the 22 kobo paid the previous year.
Speaking at the ‘Closing of Gong’ ceremony at the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) last Wednesday in Lagos, Mrs Fagbemi expressed optimism that results of the 2018 financial year will be better, while the present 2019 financial year will excite shareholders.
According to her, the five-year transformation plan the management came up with is aimed at making the company perform optimally by maximising its resources for sustainable growth and increased shareholders’ value.
She said under the plan, NAHCO will invest heavily on capacity building for its people, technology and automation as well as facility upgrade to align its operations with international best practice.
“Our top priority is our customers, because when we get everything right for our customers, deliver the right type of services, then you get the right type of income that can trickle down to profit.
“And it is from the profit that we can pay the right kind of dividend, and then it is from being able to drive that kind of service that we can create a company that would be an enviable place to work,” she said at the event, which was attended by the newly directors of the firm, which provides aircraft, passenger, and cargo handling and other related services.
Mrs Fagbemi added that, “We started last year in investing in equipment, and we intend to do more so that we do not wait to run out of equipment. “We are also refreshing our facilities; we do not wait till everything falls apart before we put them together.
“Most importantly, we are also investing in our people, we are doing a lot of transformation, we are turning into a knowledge organisation, and automation is the way to go. We are putting in place systems that will make operations easy for our people.”
