VFD Shareholders Approve N10.79 Dividend, One for Two Bonus
Kayode Tokede
The shareholders’ of VFD Group Plc have approved N10.79 per share dividend and get a one for two bonus as proposed by its Board of Directors for the financial year ended December 31, 2021.
This is N2.3 per share higher than the dividend paid last year, thereby reaffirming the commitment made by management of VFD Group to its shareholders to continuously grow wealth.
The shareholders at the 6th Annual General Meeting (AGM) held Tuesday in Lagos also approved all the resolutions put before them at the meeting.
Speaking at the AGM, the Chairman of VFD Group, Olatunde Basari (SAN) commended the shareholders and business partners for their support in growing the business in 2021 financial yera.
According to him, “While we remain optimistic with our outlook, we would position ourselves to take advantage of opportunities that present themselves during the year.”
On 2022 focus, he explained that, “The world has come to terms with the coronavirus and has begin to live with it. We expect macroeconomic indices to remain positive this year, with further optimization of the redundances caused by COVID-19.
“While we remain optimistic with our outlook, we would position ourselves to take advantage of opportunities that present themselves during the year.
“We would also focus on consolidating our existing business interests and drive our vision of becoming a commercially viable proprietary investment company with global influence.
“We will continue to seek cross border opportunities that enable us to access new markets to help us aggregate the service offerings of our existing portfolio companies and collaborations outside our ecosystem to build a platform that allows us ring-fence stakeholder value chain.”
Responding to shareholders, the GMD/CEO, VFD Group, Nonso Okpala, expressed that, “The contribution of our shareholders show that the company is getting matured when viewed from the previous AGMs.”
He added that, “2021 was a difficult year for the Group because we were forced to navigate the most difficult health and economic times in recent history. Regardless, VFD Group was able to weather the storm and deliver an impressive financial performance.
“We are confident that our diverse portfolio of investments, products, and services, as well as our people, have placed us in an excellent position to continue providing superior value to all our stakeholders.”
Okpala further noted that “as our cross-border expansion plans and strategic investment entities take shape in 2022, we expect the revenue base to be further expanded and strengthened to deliver positive results across all profitability metrics.”
Meanwhile, in 2021 the Group’s gross earnings grew by 50per cent to N9.95 billion from N6.65 billion in 2020; Interest Income grew significantly by 99per cent to N7.33 billion from N3.69 billion in 2020; Trading and Other Non-Interest Income grew by 156per cent to N10.26 billion from N4.01 billion in 2020;
In addition, shareholders’ funds grew by 64 per cent to N14.64 billion from N8.92 billion in 2020; and total assets growth of 26per cent to N102.82 billion from N81.68 billion in 2020.
