BUA Foods Plc shareholders unanimously approved the proposed final dividend payment of NGN4.50 per share with a total value of NGN81 billion at the company’s 2nd Annual General Meeting held in Abuja at the Transcorp Hilton Hotel.
The Times reported that this value was influenced by the positive growth that was reported in the fiscal year that concluded on December 31, 2022.
BUA Foods continues to be a publicly traded firm on the NGX for a second consecutive year and has the largest dividend payout in Nigeria’s food sector.
BUA Foods Plc Chairman Abdul Samad Rabiu, thanked the shareholders for their steadfast support, which has been crucial to the company’s exceptional performance from its foundation, in his opening remarks at the AGM.
Rabiu further stated: “Building on the successful amalgamation of our various businesses in 2021, we increased synergies and efficiency within the year, leading to a 30.9% increase in our profit after tax,” the company said.
“Despite the Russian-Ukrainian conflict’s effects on the world’s supply chains, we persisted in stepping up our efforts to add value and strengthen our capabilities across all operating divisions; of particular note is the start of our rice operations’ commercial production.”
The chairman further stated, “Regarding our expansion/growth strategy, we are “commercializing our second flour & pasta plant with respective additional capacities of 800,000MTpa and 500,000MTpa, finishing expansion work on our sugar refinery intended to further enhance our regional and global market expansion drive, and looking forward to our 200,000MTpa rice mill in Kano contributing to the overall performance of the entity within the next fiscal year.”
“To reduce reliance on imported raw materials, 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 Paddy rice project and our 20,000-hectare sugar plantation in Lafiagi.”
The managing director of BUA Foods, Engr. Ayodele Abioye, added, “We had a fantastic financial year following our listing on the Nigerian Exchange, with the participation of the investing public and institutions significantly advancing our wealth-building path. Market capitalization at year’s end increased from 720 billion to 1.17 trillion.
“Despite the constant economic headwinds, our company produced solid financial results, with revenue growth across all operating divisions of 25.5% to $418 billion.”
While net profit increased from 69.8 billion in 2021 to 91.3 billion in 2022, gross profit increased by 29.0% to 132.7 billion. Earnings per share increased to $5.07 from $4.24 for the entire year of 2021.
“The commercialization of more capabilities in our flour and pasta division as well as the activation of extra income generation from our rice division will be used to further our local and foreign market penetration as we continue to drive our company growth.
“With regard to our primary financial and operational performance measures, we aim to deliver double-digit growth.”
A shareholder named Dr. Umar Farouk expressed happiness over the N4.50 billion paid dividend.
He applauded the Board and Management for sustaining the company’s vision, goal, and principles as seen by the increase in share price growth which has grown by over 400% since listing.
