By Goddy Egene
The Chairman, GlaxoSmithKline Consumer (GSK) Nigeria Plc, Mr. Edmund Onuzo, has said the task before the company is to drive its strategic objectives in order to keep the business afloat and also make its portfolio more efficient and profitable.
Speaking at the annual general meeting (AGM) in Lagos, amidst the celebration of company’s 50 years of existence in Nigeria, Onuzo said despite the challenging economic environment, particularly for manufacturers in the country, the company was determined to achieve a sustainable performance across all its portfolio.
According to him, GSK recorded a profit after tax of N623.01 million for the year ended December 2020, while a dividend of 40 kobo per share was recommended and approved at the AGM.
He said the unpredicted impact of the COVID-19 pandemic slowed Nigeria’s economic recovery as the country went into a recession for the second time in five years, after the marginal economic growth noticed before 2020.
“The performance of our company in 2020 reflected our determination to remain strong and deliver value to our esteemed customers and stakeholders in a challenging economic climate. We will continue to invest in our brands and our people to achieve sustainable growth and development,” he said.
Commenting on the company’s performance, the Managing Director, GSK, Mr. Kunle Oyelana, said the achievement was a result of collaborative support from all key stakeholders of the healthcare delivery subsector.
Oyelana noted that in the last 50 years, the company had remained Nigeria’s leading healthcare company focused on enabling Nigerian to do more, feel better and live longer with our pharmaceuticals, vaccines, and consumer healthcare products.
“This year’s performance complements our sterling milestones in Research & Development (R&D) and innovations as well as quality healthcare products delivery.
“We have experienced sustained growth in our business operations centered on our three business areas of Pharmaceuticals, Vaccines and Consumer Healthcare while we have also maintained some initiatives that have continued to generate impacts by creating shared values in our communities.
“We are pleased with the results for 2020 as it showed the resilient spirit of the GSK team.
Importantly, we at GSK were able to support the government’s efforts at managing COVID-19 in Nigeria via donations of Personal Protective Equipment (PPEs) through industry associations and our partners, Save the Children,” he said.
While felicitating with the management and commending the company for waxing stronger over the last 50 years, despite the harsh business environment, Chairman of the Audit Committee, Kashimawo Taiwo, noted that the shareholders were glad to approve the payment of 40 kobo as dividend, having realised that the time is hard and the year 2020 had been very challenging and a lot of companies faced a lot of difficulties.
