Conoil Records 1,650% Growth in Dividend
By Uche Obike
Within a period of four years, Conoil Plc has recorded a 1,650 per cent increase in dividend payout to shareholders, making it one of the best recorded so far in the downstream petroleum sector.
The company's dividend figures rose from a modest N69 million in 2000, to peak at N2.024 billion in 2003.
It declared N171.5 million dividend in 2001 and N686 million in 2002. A breakdown of these figures showed that between 2000 and 2003, investors were paid 20 kobo, 50 kobo, 200 kobo and 350 kobo respectively per share.
Available performance indices revealed further that the shareholders will get much higher returns at the end of this financial year.
The company's consistent superior performance after its privatisation was recently reflected in a report that adjudged it the best quoted company on the Nigerian Stock Exchange, in respect of its capacity to maximise shareholders' value.
The rating was the result of comparative analysis of returns on stocks of 30 foremost companies in various subsectors. Conoil emerged a clear winner with 1,173 per cent to lead 7Up Bottling Company Plc and Guinness Nigeria Plc, which recorded 456 per cent respectively.
Citing the company's history of consistently delivering increasing returns and its immense potentials to grow its core businesses, financial analysts identified Conoil as investors' gold mine.
The company's unaudited financial results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2004, recently released to the capital market operators showed a significant improvement in profit before tax
which rose by 96 per cent from N672 million in 2003 to N1,318 billion, while turnover increased by 70 per cent from N7.501 billion in 2003 to N12.746 billion in 2004.
Conoil during the period under review also recorded an estimated tax that advanced substantially by 222 per cent from N92 million in 2003 to N296 million in 2004, while profit after tax grew by 76 per cent from N580 million in 2003 to N1.022 billion the following year.
The board of directors assured that barring any unforeseen circumstances, the current performance of the company will be sustained in the remaining nine months of the year.
Besides, Conoil's balance sheet for the financial year ended December 31, 2003, also released to the Exchange showed an impressive improvement over the pervious year's record.
Profit before tax rose by 138 per cent from N1.520 billion in 2002 to N3.612 billion in 2003, while turnover increased to N34.504 billion in 2003, representing 58 per cent growth over the N21.885 billion in the previous year.
The company's gross profit also swelled to N6.680 billion in 2003, from N3.951 billion in 2002, while earnings per share rose from N128 kobo in 2002 to 351 kobo in 2003. Conoil's dividend per share went up from 119 kobo in 2002 to 350 kobo in 2003.
With 435 per cent growth in its profit before tax between 2000 and 2003, Conoil has demonstrated outstanding capacity for sustainable development in the downstream business.
Available reports for the period between 2000 and 2003 showed that Conoil recorded a profit before tax of N675 million in 2000, N1.328 billion in 2001, N1.072 billion in 2002 and N3.612 billion in 2003.
Chairman of Conoil, Dr. Mike Adenuga (Jr.), had on various occasions reassured investors of the company's determination to continually deliver excellent performance and robust returns on investments.
The company is already stepping up its investment in the importation of petrol, diesel, kerosene and other petroleum products. It is also fast regaining large strategic customers in specialised products such as bitumen, base oil, as a result of competitive selling proposition and product security.
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