Amaka Ifeakandu Lagos
Shareholders of Nestle Nigeria Plc have expressed dissatisfaction over the rise in the company’s loans and borrowings, standing at N40.13 billion at the end of 2016 fi nancial year. Th e loan and borrowings rose by N23.022 billion or 134.6 per cent from N17.108 billion recorded in the preceding year. Urging the directors to clean the books through several options available , they expressed the need for Nestle Nigeria Plc to consider issuing bonus shares to further enhance liquidity of the company’s stock.
Th ey encouraged the board to think of paying an interim dividend rather than delaying the payment until year-end for a fi nal dividend, given the time value of money. Nona Awoh, one of the shareholders said the company unclaimed dividend portfolio that stood at N4.4 billion was not proper and suggested that management should empower its investor relations unit to drive down the number.. while calling for funding of more research in Nigerian universities to cut the bloating cost, Awoh expressed reservation at the fact that N46.737bn was spent on sourcing raw materials during the year, from N37.097bn in 2015, a situation he blamed on problems encountered in the sourcing of forex by manufacturing companies.
Th e chairman of Nestle Nigeria’s chairman, David Ifejulike, blamed the huge debt profi le on the massive devaluation of the Naira over the recent months, made worse by the scarcity of foreign exchange in the country, which is now being eased gradually by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) under its new policy actions, which makes forex available for payment of foreign currency denominated loans. He said that the company is also considering recapitalizing through rights issue at the appropriate time, while urging shareholders to complete necessary documentations to enable electronic transfer of dividends to their bank accounts as being promoted by stakeholders in the capital market to put a fi nal stop to the issue of unclaimed dividend.
