Shareholders of Caverton Offshore Support Group on Wednesday approved the N335m dividend proposed by the company.

The amount translates into 10k for every N0.50 ordinary share held for the 2014 financial year.

The shareholders commended the Board of Directors for increasing the company’s investment value through the planned dividend payout and adherence to corporate governance principles.

They, however, urged on the management to explore new business opportunities in order to consolidate its performance and accelerate the company’s growth

The shareholders spoke at the Annual General Meeting of Caverton held in Lagos,

The Chairman, Dynamic Shareholders Association, Mr. Adio Alex, commended the company’s dividend policy and said there was the need to reduce its operating cost in order to improve on its current performance next year.

To enhance profitability and diversify business activities, the COSG management and board need to consider going to the capital market to raise additional funds, according to the Chairman, Professional Shareholders Association, Mr. Godwin Anono.

He said, “With the growth in your revenue, you can do more. You can raise more money to diversify into other areas because other investors may look for a way to key into with what you are doing. The offshore business in Nigeria is growing and you need to work to ensure that you are number one in that sector.”

The Chairman, COSG, Mr. Aderemi Makanjuola, said the implementation of the company’s strategic plans had translated into strong top-line growth.

In his presentation, he stated that the group’s revenue rose by 33 per cent year-on-year from N18.66bn to N24bn this year.

He noted that an exchange translation loss of N2bn resulted from the official devaluation of the naira, leading to a drop in net income from N1.8bn in 2013 to N979m this year.

The chairman, however, said that the company was determined to continue to reduce cost and increase efficiency in all segments of its business in 2015.

Makanjuola said, “Our drive to diversify and grow our revenue base is on track with the planned development of our aviation training centre; and maintenance, repair and overhaul facility. In addition to our existing contracts, for FY 2014, we witnessed increased activity in the helicopter charter segment which resulted in increased revenue for the end year.”

While stating that company had signed new agreements to provide aviation and marine logistics services to indigenous oil and gas company, the chairman told the shareholders that the company would continue to take full advantage of the opportunities offered by Nigerian oil companies as more multinationals unbundle and divest assets to the NOCs.

The Chief Executive Officer, COSG, Mr. Bode Makanjuola, disclosed that the company had concluded plans to increase its fleet in the near future.

He said, “We are doing a lot to build an aviation training centre which would help a lot of Nigerians to become pilots. We are flying engineers to Senegal and Togo and we fix aircraft for various African countries. They do not go to Europe again since they can get better services in Africa from us.”

Punch