Shareholders laud Eterna over 2022 performance

Shareholders have applauded Eterna Plc’s performance in the 2022 financial year despite the harsh business terrain in the country.

At an Extraordinary General Meeting in Lagos, the shareholders said they believed in the company’s transformational journey and were confident that it would perform better in 2023.

The National Coordinator of the Pragmatic Shareholders Association, Bisi Bakare, commended the management and board of Eterna for the brilliant performance recorded in 2022.

She said the decision of the company’s management to cancel unissued share capital was a welcome development, adding the cancellation of the shares would consolidate the share price and ensure the dividends paid are not eroded.

Matthew Akinlade, President, Noble Shareholders Solidarity Association, congratulated the company on its impressive performance, urging the company to continue this trajectory.

He expressed optimism that the company would close the year on a positive note and possibly declare dividends.

According to him, shareholders understood the necessity for the Extraordinary General Meeting as the company had a cut-off date of December 31, 2022, to comply with the directives of the Corporate Affairs Commission with respect to unissued shares pursuant to the Companies and Allied Matters Act 2020 and the Companies Regulations 2021.

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He noted that since the company might have paid stamp duty on the shares it sought to cancel, the money expended on it would be a loss.

He claimed that some companies dealt with unissued shares through a bonus issue.

However, another shareholder, Sunny Nwosu, noted that cancellation would put a lot of pressure on companies to pay better dividends.

Also, Nornah Ewoh who is a shareholder of Eterna, urged the management of the company to be shareholder-friendly, saying that shareholders are the owners of the business.

Speaking at the event, the Chairman of Eterna PLC, Dr. Gabriel Ogbechie, represented by Okey Omezi, an Independent Non-Executive Director, assured that the prospects were getting brighter for the oil firm.

In Q3 2022, the company reported a N1.9bn profit before tax against N567 reported in Q3 2021, while profit after tax grew significantly by 246 per cent to N1.4bn in Q3 2022 from N416m in Q3 2021.

In the company’s unaudited financial statement for the third quarter that ended September 30, 2022, the growth in profits was driven by a significant increase in revenue to N92bn in Q3 2022 from N61bn reported in Q3 2021.

It would be recalled that Eterna Plc recorded N4.1bn gross profit for the half year 2022.

Eterna PLC manufactures, markets and distributes lubricants and chemicals and operates a network of filling stations. Its plan is to further increase its retail network across the country.