By Chioma Obinagwam
Shareholders of Fidson Healthcare Plc have approved 15 kobo dividend per share proposed by the directors of the company at its Annual General Meeting (AGM) for the 2018 financial year held on Thursday September 26, 2019 in Lagos.
The company disclosed in a statement on Friday.
Extracts from statement showed that the company recorded an increased turnover of 15 percent from N14.06 billion in FY 2017 to N16.23 billion in Fiscal Year (FY) 2018.
“However, because of the increased cost of sales from 49 percent margin in 2017 to 61 percent and increased Finance cost (up by 92 percent), Fidsons’ Profit Before Tax (FBT) for the period was down to N160.9 million from N1.6 bilion in FY 2017.
Having concluded its Rights Issue in June 2019, the statement disclosed, the company has already taken steps to improve its financial structure. The capital raise was towards refinancing expensive debt and working capital funding in a bid to improve its margins.
The company said it continues to leverage its WHO-certifiable factory, having recently executed a partnership with GSK that will see it manufacture for its West African operations going forward.
“This, alongside market penetration strategy and cost optimization are a few of many initiatives to sustain growth and return value to shareholders that the company is currently pursuing,” it disclosed.
According to the Chairman of the board, Mr. Segun Adebanji, Fidson continues to strengthen its operating facilities with expansion and retooling.
He said, ‘’Old machines and equipment have been disused and replaced with modern ones. We are currently expanding our capacity utilization through increased production and contract manufacturing for other notable companies in the industry.”
He also said the company is poised to reposition the business through business realignment and useful industry collaboration in order to take advantage of the growth opportunities in the market.