By Ademola Alawiye

Tuesday, 21 Dec 2010

The current economic recession being experienced in the country will improve in 2011, the Chairman, Kajola Integrated Investment Plc, Prof. Wale Omole, has said.

Omole said at the company‘s Annual General Meeting in Lagos, on Friday, that the ongoing reforms in the financial market would change the face of activities in the banking sector and the capital market.

He said, ”We are still hopeful that the global economic recession will return to normalcy in 2011. While I expect the Nigerian operating environment to remain relatively tough due to the mono-product nature of our economy, I still believe that the economy presents huge opportunities for good businesses to be explored.”

He added that if the nation‘s infrastructural decay was revived and the power sector reform was given attention, there is no doubt that economic activities would increase and prospect of foreign direct investment into the country would be greatly enhanced.

He noted that the global economic climate continued to be impacted by the financial crises of 2008, with weak global demand and credit contraction, which inhibited output in 2009.

He said, ”In order to salvage the global market, different governments across the globe introduced series of stimulus packages to induce demand in order to lower uncertainty and reduce systemic risks in the financial markets, which had become very vulnerable.

”By the tail end of 2009, it had become clearer that the economies of some of the European countries, the United States and China, among others, were responding slightly positively and giving slow recovery signs. In Africa, however, global recession when reviewed, created a huge gap in African economic development.”

According to the results presented by the company, gross earnings rose by 44 per cent to N130.23m in 2009, from N90.44m recorded in 2008.

The company recorded a loss after tax of N2.36m, representing a decline of 105 per cent, from the profit of N46.28m recorded in 2008.

Shareholders of the company, however, urged the management to restrategise in order to reposition the company for improved results in the near future.

Source: Punch