The Odu’a Investment Company Limited has said that the company experienced an 11.5% increase over the 2019 gains in the year 2020 despite the crippling effects of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The company which is jointly owned by the six southwestern states of Oyo, Osun, Ogun, Ondo, Ekiti, and Lagos disclosed that the company made a profit after tax of N5.203 billion for the 2020 fiscal year representing an 11.5 percent increase over the N4.665 billion profit achieved in 2019.
Chairman of the Board of Directors, Dr. Segun Aina, revealed during a virtual shareholder’s Annual General Meeting (AGM) initiated from the company’s head office at the Cocoa House, Ibadan, Oyo State, yesterday that the board approved a dividend of N364 million to its shareholders, an increase of 14% over the previous year.
He claimed that the board’s continued focus on the group’s daring five-year growth strategy (2021-2025) will propel it to become a world-class conglomerate, ensuring long-term returns for all stakeholders and enhancing the legacy for future generations.
Aina went on to say that the organization would be aided in achieving its expansion objective by new world-class practices, technology, policies, and incentives.
According to him, “This strategy of Sweat, Revive and Create (SRC-2025) is pinned on the strategic pillar of good governance and reporting; people and culture transformation; investment excellence, growth, and expansion, and profitability and efficiency to sweat the existing assets, revive inactive entities and create new businesses.”
Mr. Adewale Raji, the Group Managing Director/CEO, stated that the COVID-19 pandemic caused headwinds in the group’s hospitality and real estate businesses, noting that revenue generated increased by 112 percent from N1.809 billion in the fiscal year 2019 to N3.842 billion in the fiscal year 2020.
He said: “The PBT increased dramatically to N3.75 billion from N890 million in 2019, so a sizeable chunk of this PBT is an N2.63 billion gain from investment in properties revaluation which it stripped to put the net PBT at N1.12 billion that represents a 26 percent over the 2019 performance of N890 million.”
