Total Invested $100m In Nigeria In Three Years – Official
By Kusoro Jeremiah with agency report
Total Nigeria Plc says it invested over 100 million dollars (more than N16 billion dollars) in Nigeria in the last three years.
Mr Momar Nguer, Chairman of Total, disclosed this on Friday in Lagos at the company’s 36th Annual General Meeting.
Nguer said that the investments were in its core business, innovative solutions in greener energies, human capital development and solar investment solutions.
The chairman said the company’s solar investment were on the provision of energy to lower income Nigerians with solar lamps and provision of solar solution to individuals through home systems.
He said that the third fold of the solar investment would be the launch of the first solar-powered service station in Africa in Lagos.
Nguer said that the company would, in the next couple of weeks, launch a solar-powered service station in Abuja.
Nguer, however, decried the company’s huge financial expenses due to delays in the payment of subsidies by the Federal Government in the last eight months.
He said the company was owed N12 billion as subsidies in 2013, adding that the financial expenses of the debt represented 10 per cent of its net operating income.
Nguer also said that the company was not getting a fair share of fuel allocations to serve its numerous customers.
He said that the company, with 12 per cent market share, got about three per cent of the import allocations.
The chairman called for the review of the rules and criteria of the import allocations and the marketing margin to ensure transparency.
According to him, the marketing margin, which is generating the cash-flow, has not been reviewed since 2007.
He said that the margin should be reviewed to cater for the cost of doing business in the country.
The company for the financial year ended Dec. 31, 2013 posted a turnover of N238.16 billion against the N217.84 billion achieved in 2012.
Profit before tax grew by 14 per cent to N8.12 billion against N7.09 billion declared in 2012.
Profit after tax stood at N5.33 billion in contrast to the N4.67 billion in 2012, an increase of 14 per cent.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the shareholders at the meeting approved a final dividend of N3.06 billion, which translated to N9 per share.
The company had earlier distributed the sum of N679 million, which translated to N2 per share, as interim dividend.
Mr Godwin Anono, Chairman, Standard Shareholders Association of Nigeria, commended the company for the performance in spite unfriendly operating environment.
Anono commended the company for declaring a dividend of N9 in spite of the security challenges in the north-eastern part of the country.