GSK Nigeria Shareholders Approve 30k Dividend, Commend Performance

Shareholders of GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Nigeria (GSK) Plc yesterday approved a dividend of 30 kobo per share recommended by the board of directors for the year ended December 31, 2016. The approval was given at the 46th annual general meeting (AGM) held in Lagos. GSK recorded a turnover of N14.385 billion for 2016, while profit after tax (PAT) stood at N2.378 billion, up from N873 million in 2015.

Hence, the directors recommended the 30 kobo dividend per 50 kobo per share, which the shareholders approved and commended the directors for. They urged the board and management to continue to work tirelessly to take the company to greater heights and also produce a better result in the new financial year.

Speaking at the AGM, Chairman of the company, the divestment of the company’s drinks business in third quarter (Q3) enabled the company to align with the global strategy and focus on its core businesses with the aim of driving improved margins and sustainable growth.
According to him, although the immediate outcome of the divestment is a leaner and nimble company, focus on healthcare would enhance GSK’s brand portfolio.

Onuzo emphasised that GSK would continue to support its brand through increased marketing and promotions. He also disclosed that the company would drive increased local manufacturing and local content contribution to increase margins and mitigate against foreign exchange fluctuations.

“In 2017, GSK would focus on growing major brands like Sensodyne, Panadol, Andrews Liver Salt and Macleans to drive baseline profitability. These are part of our sustainability measures, we are now more focused on our core strength and going forward, we hope to aggressively build our consumer healthcare portfolio,” he said.

The chairman noted that the company is strongly committed to attaining and sustaining high performance and would continue to invest in human capital and sustainable corporate responsibility initiatives while ensuring that the company fulfills its mission to improve the quality of human lives by enabling people to do more, feel better and live longer.

He assured shareholders that despite the economic challenges, the company remained committed to ensuring that its shareholders received good returns on their investment.

While there were apprehension that the divestment of its drinks business would impact negatively, GSK had assured that rather than affect its performance, it would enable it concentrate on its strength which is oral healthcare, nutrition and pharmaceutical/vaccines production and marketing business.

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