Shareholders of Fidson Healthcare Plc have approved a total dividend of N312.9 million, representing 15 kobo per share for the year ended December 31, 2019.
They also commended the company for ensuring that investors continue to get good value on their investments.
The shareholders gave their approval for the dividend at the Company 21st Annual General Meeting (AGM) held in Lagos. The AGM was held by proxy, to comply with the federal government’s directives on social distancing and rules limiting social gathering to a maximum of 20 people.
During the period under review, Fidson healthcare grew its profit for the year by 518 per cent from a loss of N97.45 million in 2018 to N407.19 million in 2019. This is despite a decrease in revenue of 13 per cent, from N16.23 billion in full year, 2018 to N14.06 billion in full year, 2019, which is largely as a result of the impact of the rescheduled national elections on its business operations in the first half of 2019, as well as the ensuing consumer passivity.
Speaking at the meeting, the chairman of the Board of Fidson Healthcare, Mr Segun Adebanji, said the company adopted several cost optimization initiatives that ultimately led to the profitability increase.
According to him, gross margin improved from 39 per cent in 2018 to 42 per cent in 2019, administrative and sales expenses reduced by 13 per cent while finance cost dropped by over 10 per cent.
He reported that proceeds from the company’s right issue in July 2019 were used to repay expensive loans, finance capital expenditure and working capital needs.
“Fidson continues to leverage it WHO-compliant factory, introducing 10 new products in 2019, and went into an agreement with GlaxoSmithKline Plc to contract manufacture for them from 2021 onwards. This will ultimately drive an increase in output and efficiency, and bring variable costs of production down,” he said.
Looking into the future, Adebanji said that the Board is committed to implementing strategic initiatives like international collaboration and Research and Development to drive sustainable growth as well as cement its leadership position in the industry.