Vitafoam Nigeria Plc’s expansion and diversification programmes have received a boost with the International Finance Corporation’s recent granting of a “soft loan” of $2.8m (N436.8m) facility to Vitafoam Sierra Leone Limited, a subsidiary of Vitafoam Nigeria Plc.

The Chairman of Vitafoam Nigeria Plc, Chief Samuel Bolarinde, who dislosed this at the 2011 Annual General Meeting of the company in Lagos on Monday, said the facility would be used for the construction of a foam manufacturing factory in the country.

Bolarinde, who described the company’s foray into Sierra Leone and other West African countries as one in the series of its expansion, diversification and innovative schemes aimed at enhancing profitability and product offerings, said the future prosperity of the company and its shareholders lay in the various strategic re-engineering processes embarked upon by the company.

Addressing shareholders, Bolarinde assured the various stakeholders of “the commitment of the Board and Management to steadily pursue the goals of growing our business for higher profitability.”

According to him, some of the major expansion and diversification programmes the company has embarked upon in recent times include the purchase of the majority stakeholding (41 per cent) in Vono Products Plc about two years ago; the establishment of Vitablom, a fibre processing firm and the setting up of Vitapur Nigeria Limited.

Others are the group’s insulation and contracting company; and the recent commencement of operation in Ghana and Sierra Leone, through Vitafoam Ghana Limited and Vitafoam Sierra Leone.

Specifically, he said the company had already begun low-key operations in Sierra Leone, with plans to start the construction of a foam factory in the country.

Underscoring the need for the restructuring and diversification programmes, the Vitafoam chairman lamented that the hostile operating environment in Nigeria persisted in 2011, a situation that had been worsened by the high cost of governance in Nigeria.

On the performance of the company in the year under review, he said the company’s profit after tax increased from N526.6m recorded in 2010 to N673.02m in 2011. He said the company also recorded a “healthy turnover but a modest performance in profitability.” Besides, the result showed a turnover of N13.9bn in 2011, compared to N10.5bn recorded in 2010.

He said based on the result of the year ended September 30, 2011, the company’s Board of Directors recommended a dividend payment of N245.7m, representing 30 kobo per share.

On the acquisition and restructuring of the majority Vono Products Plc, the company’s Managing Director, Dr.Bamidele Makanjuola, said about N1bn had been spent on the processes.

Source: Punch/Layi Adeloye