Joining NSE Premium Board raised Seplat’s access to deep pocket investors—Orjiako
The Board Chairman of Seplat Petroleum Development Company Plc, Dr ABC Orjiako, has said that the strategic step taken in 2018 by the company in migrating to the Premium Board of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) remains a strong boost which positively impacted the latest financial performance as seen in the 2018 results.
Speaking weekend at the group’s sixth Annual General Meeting in Lagos, the oil magnet who set the record of being the first company chairman to relocate its operational head office to Eko Atlantic City, in 2017 after the acquisition of new Afren Towers in the emerging city, said the Premium Board gave the company enhanced access to a wide pool of investors.
According to him, the targeted investors were particularly proud of the fact that Seplat had achieved another first in becoming to date the only oil and gas company to achieve such feat.
Elated Orjiako assured stakeholders that “As we enter 2019, our reliable production base, the low unit cost of production and discretion over capital commitments will allow the business to remain highly free cash flow generative and profitable.
“In the absence of any major interruption or force majeure event, this will enable Seplat to honour its dividend policy and provide an attractive yield to our shareholders in addition to the potential for capital appreciation.”
To be specific, he further noted that Seplat going forward, will selectively invest in low-risk oil production drilling opportunities within the existing portfolio and the continued expansion of the gas business, with 2019 set to be the year that activity intensifies at the large scale Assa-North and Ohaji-South (ASOH) gas and condensate development.
Dr Orjiako averred that “The company’s 2018 operational and financial performance reflected the significantly higher year-on-year levels of production uptime at its core oil-producing assets combined with a firmer, albeit still volatile, oil price and increased contribution from the company’s gas business”.
Earlier in his address, the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of the company, Mr Austin Avuru, said Seplat’s financial performance raised the group to robust profitability and cash flow heights, a feat he described as good for growth in future and mainly the 2019 business year.
While revealing the N228bn revenue in Seplat’s full-year 2018 financial result, representing an increase of 65 per cent from the N137bn recorded in 2017, he informed shareholders that their reception of $0.05 (N18) dividend per share for the 2018 financial year, amounting to N10.6bn, is part of the new drive to maintain shareholders’ confidence in a harsh operating system.
Business Hilights recall that Seplat, a promising indigenous player in Nigeria’s oil and gas is listed on both the Nigerian Stock Exchange and the London Stock Exchange, even as the latest financials recorded N73bn profit before tax, which means a 480 per cent increase from N13bn reported in the same period in 2017.
