Caverton Shares Rise 16% as Investors React to Chevron Contract    

By Goddy Egene

Investors last week renewed demand for the shares of Caverton Offshore Support Group Plc (COSG), following the news of award of a contract to it by Chevron Nigeria Limited (CNL).

COSG was   awarded a five-year logistics support contract by CNL operator of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC/CNL Joint Venture, for   the provision of aviation services with a two- year renewable option.

Confident that the contract would boost the bottomline of COSG going forward, investors increased demand for the shares of the company. The high demand led to a growth of 16 per cent in the stock, rising from N1.00 to N1.16 per share last week.

COSG had explained that the contract was awarded following an extended competitive tendering process.

“Caverton emerged successful after scaling through both the technical and commercial evaluation ahead of other bidders. Given CNL’s reputation for very high safety and quality standards, it is safe to say that Caverton’s commitment to safety, quality and continuous improvement contributed in no small measure to this successful bid. Caverton will service this contract with 11 Bell manufactured helicopters in line with CNL’s requirement. As part of the contract, Caverton will provide guaranteed medevac response to CNL 24 hours a day, seven days a week, covering their entire area of operations,” the company had said.

Speaking on the development, the Group Chairman of the Caverton,  Mr. Remi Makanjuola said: “We are thankful to our clients, the aviation regulators, our shareholders, our staff and many others who have played a role in our development and success as a company. Special recognition to the Access Bank Group that has supported Caverton on various projects over the years. Caverton Helicopters is poised to continue to work on consolidating its vision to be the leading provider of premium aviation services in sub-Saharan Africa to the oil and gas industry.”

Over the past decade, Caverton has worked hard to raise the bar in key areas in this specialised sector: helicopter availability, on-time departure, service and maintenance quality; doing all this while pursuing a robust local content strategy.

“The positive impact of these efforts is the growing confidence in our services by the international oil companies and others, resulting in an increasing market share,” the company said.

Stock market operators had said the contract was  a good development that will  boost  the  financial performance of COSG, noting that the company would deliver improved returns to investors going forward.