Odu’a Records 8.5% Dip in Revenue, Approves N428 Million Dividends

ODU’A Investment Company Limited (OICL) has reported an operating revenue decrease of 8.5 per cent from N4.01 billion in 2021 to N3.67 billion in 2022.

The company posted a profit before tax of N4.08 billion in 2022, 56.5 per cent lower than the N9.37 billion in 2021. The record was driven largely by lower revaluation gains.

OICL revealed this, yesterday during its 41st yearly general meeting to present its report and financial statements for the financial year ended December 31, 2022 in Lagos.

Group Chairman, OICL, Otunba Bimbo Ashiru, said the Russia-Ukraine war and the typical slowdown that has come to be associated with pre-election years significantly weighed on economic activities and investments.

Leadower of the Yoruba socio-cultural group, Afenifere, Pa Ayo Adebanjo, yesterday, said he was disappointed in the governors of the South-West for not doing enough to improve the region and create more investments.

Adebanjo, who spoke at the official launch of Odu’a Investment Foundation (OIF), said: “I ought not to be here, but I can’t miss anything related to Oduduwa.”

“I want to appeal to the governors that they have not been doing their jobs.”

Meanwhile, it was revealed that South-West Agricultural Company Limited (SWAgCo), in collaboration with OICL, has commenced work on revitalisation of the agricultural assets across the South-West region.

These include seeking partnerships for the development of the group’s land assets of about 40,000 hectares, operationalising land assets, and partnership with third party players to develop other critical agriculture infrastructure assets in the region, which cut across rice, maize, soybean and cassava value chains.

Speaking on the dividend, the General Managing Directorand Chief Executive Officer of OICL, Adewale Raji noted that these will bring the total dividend paid to Shareholders over the last 9 years to the sum of N2.56 billion. 

On the financial performance of the company in year 2022, Raji said Odu’a Investment Company recorded a revenue of N3.68 billion in 2022 which was an 8.5 percent decrease from the 2021 amount of N4.01 billion, adding that the Profit Before Tax was N4.08 billion compared to the 2021 figure of N9.37 billion.

“This was driven mainly by a reduction in revaluation gains on investment properties from N7.11 billion in 2021 to N2.98 billion in 2022. These gains do not occur on all our properties all at once and will typically vary from one year to another. If these Accounting gains are removed, the normalised Profit Before Tax for 2022 will be N1.1 billion compared to N2.26 billion for 2021,” he said.

Looking ahead, the GMD noted that the management of the company are resolute in their conviction that the business plans set-out to be executed in 2023 would drive the expected growth. “We expect many of the opportunities in our pipeline to translate into positive revenue growth and profitability in 2023. Some of the investments we will be making this year, especially in our real estate and hospitality portfolio will however only start delivering revenue in 2024. Regardless, we see significant revenue growth in our Agriculture, and Energy subsidiaries.”

Otunba Ashiru was also positive that the year 2023 would bring higher rewards for the works done, while expecting some of the critical changes in the monetary and fiscal policy environment would drive activities in real estate and construction, agriculture, and the power sector, amongst others. 

“I believe that the year 2023 will be pivotal for the business. Several transformational initiatives in our operations will be completed or nearing completion, and it will therefore be a year of consolidating on the significant shift that the Board and Management have worked so diligently to achieve over the last three years. The multiplier effects that we expect on our revenue and asset base have begun to appear, and the trajectory of the business can only be upwards,” he said.

July 28, 2023