Cadbury Nigeria Says Won’t Pay Dividend, Building Up Its Cash Reserves
Cadbury Nigeria Plc (CADBURY), a confectionery manufacturer, won’t pay a dividend for fiscal 2010 as it tries to build its cash reserves, Chairman Atedo Peterside said.
“The turnaround in the balance sheet is already occurring and we are hopeful that a positive general reserve will be achievable in the near future,” Peterside said at an annual general meeting in Lagos today.
Cadbury Nigeria returned to profit in 2010, with net income of 1.17 billion naira ($7.5 million) after a loss of 1.24 billion naira a year earlier, according to figures published in its annual report distributed at the general meeting.
The stock lost 40 kobo, or 1.8 percent, to 21.6 naira, by the 2:30 p.m. close in Lagos, its lowest level since April 20. It has fallen 16 percent this year compared with a 5.6 percent increase in the Nigerian Stock Exchange All-Share Index over the same period.
“There was nothing to support demand for the stock,” David Adonri, chief executive officer of Lambeth Trust & Investment Co., a Lagos-based brokerage, said by phone today. “At the end of the year, they did not distribute anything to the shareholders, no dividends, no bonuses.”
To contact the reporter on this story: Vincent Nwanma in Lagos at vnwanma@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Antony Sguazzin at asguazzin@bloomberg.net
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