UAC of Nigeria Plc (UAC) has posted a revenue of N78.7 billion in its 2013 operations, against N69.6 billion achieved in 2012.

   Its profit after tax also increased from N7.1 billion to N9.9 billion during the year under review.

Addressing shareholders at the company’s yearly general meeting held in Lagos on Wednesday, the Chairman of the company, Senator Udoma Udo Udoma said the performance was made possible due to innovative and proactive responses to market dynamics and competitive pressures by management.

   According to him, “during the year we acquired two new companies, Livestock Feeds  and Portland Paints and Products Nigeria; and continued to build on our strategy of working with partners who bring value to our businesses.

“We currently have strategic partners in Tiger Brands Limited for UAC Foods Limited, Imperial Logistics for MDS Logistics Limited and Famous Brands for our UAC Restaurants Limited businesses. These bold initiatives have repositioned our group for sustainable growth and improved performance in the years ahead.”

  The Chairman announced that due to the impressive  performance recorded in 2013  and in line with the company’s dividend policy, the board also recommended a dividend of N3.4 billion, which represent one percent increase,  over the N2.5 billion paid in 2012. 

On the outlook of the business for 2014, the Chairman said: “We are aware that the prospects for growth in 2014 remain modest given the economic and business risks earlier enunciated. However, we are very optimistic as to the growth prospect of UAC in the medium term as we integrate the two newly acquired businesses - Livestock Feeds Plc and Portland Paints and Products Nigeria Plc - into the UAC family and continue to build on the synergies created by our various strategic alliances with other industry leaders. The future of UAC is indeed bright as we are poised to reap the benefits of the investments we are currently making as well as the capacity upgrades we are undertaking in our various businesses.”

   He spoke of the efforts by the company to mitigate risks in the business environment, stressing: “As we continue to align our businesses to deliver good returns to our shareholders, we have taken other strategic initiatives geared towards minimizing our business risk and exposure. These include on-going implementation of Enterprise-wide Risk Management framework and the deployment of SAP (Systems, Applications, Products in Data Processing) as our Enterprise Resource Planning software.’’

   He commented on Nigeria’s centennial celebrations, saying: “As the country celebrates 100 years of the establishment of Nigeria by amalgamation of the Northern and Southern protectorates, we are proud of the contributions our company has made to the growth of the Nigerian economy over the period. We intend to make even greater contributions as we enter into our second century of existence.”

(GUARDIAN)