Shareholders of Japaul Oil and Maritime Services Plc have been assured of improved returns on their investments in the coming years.

Specifically, the company said its efforts at investing in strategic business opportunities had begun to pay off, adding that this would be visible from increased performance and profitability.

The Managing Director, Japaul, Mr. Jegede Paul, said this in a statement on Wednesday.

Paul, who was quoted by the statement as speaking at the company’s Annual General Meeting, held in Ondo State, said the company’s various investments in the acquisition of vessels, oil and gas equipment and other machinery would help to improve its profitability in the current financial year.

He specifically said the company currently had tenders for business in excess of N31.4bn and expressed optimism that securing at least 45 per cent of the contracts would boost its profitability significantly.

Paul said, “Our continued acquisition of new assets in terms of vessels, oil and gas equipment, dredgers etc, were geared towards our company positioning for the future and healthy competition in the oil and gas and maritime industries.

“The shareholders are key in our operation or business, this is why we are determined to ensure that dividends are paid year in year out and bonus issue once the business environment improves because the reason why we are still in business is because they are there supporting us to forge ahead. The company’s earnings per share during the year stood at N15.66 from N12.66 the previous year.”

The statement said Paul gave an assurance that the company’s bottom line would improve significantly in the next couple of months as its contracts with some oil and gas majors in the areas of dredging and vessel chartering had been renewed.

The Chairman of the company, Maj.-Gen. Joseph Omosebi (retd), said Japaul was able to withstand the storm and challenges in the economy and had been able to improve on its financial performance.

He said, “With the deployment of some of our vessels and equipment to some oil and gas major, the future is bright barring challenges.

“The business activities in the maritime industry as they relate to oil and gas are improving and the efficacy of the local content law coupled with cabotage policies have created room for Japaul to triumph wonderfully.”

The company’s financial performance for 2011 showed that its turnover grew from N7.1bn in 2010 to N10.25bn, while gross profit rose to N4.7bn in 2011 from N3.2bn the year before.

Also, profit after tax stood at N980.4m in the year under review compared to N792.7m the preceding year.

Accordingly, the board of directors of the company declared a dividend of two kobo per share.

Source: Punch/Udeme Ekwere