Conoil PLC

Conoil will remain marketer of choice – Adenuga

Chairman of Conoil Plc, Dr. Mike Adenuga (Jr.), took a peep into the future of the downstream business at the weekend and declared that the erratic economic environment would not deter the company from maintaining its growth momentum, building value for customers and delivering competitive profitability...

At the company’s 39th annual general meeting in Ibadan, Adenuga reassured all stakeholders of the will and capability of the board and management to benchmark Conoil against the best global standards in order to make it a world-class company that every Nigerian will be proud of.

According to him, the future is rosy because the company is constantly thinking ahead and acquiring additional capacity to meet the long-term needs of its growing business. "We will continue to pursue growth in all existing businesses and to explore further exciting new opportunities that offer potential for future growth,” he added.

For the financial period ended December 31, 2008, the company paid a dividend of 100 kobo on every 50 kobo ordinary share. It recorded appreciable growth in turnover, posting N124,322,434, which represents 43 per cent increase over the N86,847,548 recorded in the previous year. The gross profit stood at N3.28 billion against N3.76 billion recorded last year, while the net current assets dropped by 9 per cent, from N6.14 billion to N5.59 billion.

Industry analysts, who noted that the performance reflected the general trend in the industry during the period under review, have commended Conoil for paying 100 kobo dividend at a time when many companies declared no dividend at all.

Adenuga said as a dynamic company, Conoil has taken steps to consolidate its strength across the businesses by investing in new facilities and developing a new portfolio of excellent brands, supported by effective distribution machinery.

"Every segment of our business will continue to receive the desired attention with a view to maintaining world-class levels of operating and capital discipline. It is gratifying to note that our clientele in the various businesses has been rising constantly. So, we are optimistically looking forward to appreciable results of our investments in infrastructures in the months to come.”

On the planned full deregulation of the oil and gas industry, he explained that the policy would present tougher challenges and inevitably increase competition in the sector. He however expressed confidence in the company’s capability to take full advantage of all emerging opportunities.

His words: "We have robust strategies that have been tested under a variety of market conditions. We are sustaining strategic investment in the core businesses and will continue to build on our efforts to remain the marketer of choice in the industry.

"From time to time, we will appraise and refocus our operational strategies with a view to increasing capital investment where and when required to replenish our resource base.”

Reassuring the shareholders that their investment in Conoil is a wise one, Adenuga said: "You can rest assure that your company is equipped and strategically positioned to meet its long term goals. Our strategy, in an unpredictable economic environment, is to maintain our growth momentum and deliver competitive levels of profitability.”