NB Plc’s shareholders advised to embrace e-Dividend

In a bid to avoid unclaimed dividends, the Company Secretary/Legal Adviser of Nigerian Breweries Plc,  Mr. Uaboi Agbebaku, has advised shareholders of the company  to embrace electronic(e)dividend payment  option.

e-dividend option allows direct payment of dividends into shareholders’ bank accounts instead receiving dividend warrants.
And as  at  the end of December 31, 2013, the unclaimed dividends of NB  Plc stood at about N5 billion.

But speaking at the Pre-Annual General Meeting of media briefing in Lagos on Tuesday, Agbebaku said while the company is exploiting other ways to ensure the unclaimed dividends get to  their owners, he  shareholders should embrace  the e-dividend option going forward.

“We continue to encourage shareholders to take the e-dividend option. If they take the e-dividend option, the issue of unclaimed dividend will  be reduced and eventually eliminated,” he said.

According to him, currently  the company always send the list of unclaimed dividends  along annual report and accounts to shareholders with the hope that  when they see the report they will  come and claim their outstanding dividends.

“What we want to do next is to put a notice on our website  to encourage people who are affected to contact the registrars and claim their outstanding dividends,” he said.

NB Plc has recommended gross dividend of N34 billion, translating into N4.50 per share for the 2013 financial out of the net profit of N43.1 billion reported for year.

According to the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of  NB Plc, Mr. Nicolaas Vervelde,  the company recorded a revenue of N269 billion and profit before tax of N62.2 billion, showing an increase of 6.3 per cent and 11.9 per cent over the N252 billion and N55.6 billion respectively recorded in 2012.

Meanwhile, shareholders of NB Plc will continue to enjoy a robust dividends payment going forward.
The  Finance Director of the company, Mr. Jasper Hamaker gave this indication when he said  the dividend policy of NB Plc is determined by the need to balance what is paid to shareholders and what is reinvested in the company.

According to him,  the pay-out ratio was reduced to 60 per cent before2013 when funds were needed to finance some new acquisitions. Hamaker explained that now that the acquisitions have been concluded, the pay-out ratio has been increased to 80 per cent, which, he added, would be maintained going forward.