Nico Holdings declares K250m dividend
Financial services group Nico Holdings Limited directors resolved to pay K250 million final dividend, an equivalent of 24 tambala per share, in the year ended December 31 2012.
This was approved at the group’s annual general meeting (AGM) in Blantyre last Friday.
Nico Holdings board chairperson George Jaffu, in the 2012 annual report, said the group registered 63 percent growth in gross operating revenue.
“The growth was commendable despite the fact that this growth did not trickle down to the bottom line due to the operational challenges that were largely rooted in the economic volatility in Malawi.
“This was exacerbated by increased claim payments by our companies in Malawi, Tanzania and Zimbabwe. Because of the high volatility in the business environment, the board decided not to declare an interim dividend,” reads the chairperson’s report in part.
Jaffu further notes that Nico Holdings share price on the Malawi Stock Exchange (MSE) opened at K11 in January 2012 and peaked at K15 in June and eventually dropped to K14.30 as at December 31 2012.
The group realised profit after tax of K1.5 billion and profit attributable to shareholders stood at K438 million which were 50 percent and 74 percent below the previous year’s respectively.
However, the group’s managing director, Felix Mlusu, in the 2012 annual report, noted that regardless of the economic challenges the country is experiencing, the potential of the group is still intact.
He argued that most of the items that impacted the performance of the group negatively are of non-recurring nature.
