Shareholder Slams Guinea Insurance’s Penchant For Losses, Non-payment Of Dividends
The National President of Progressives Shareholders Association of Nigeria, Okezie Boniface, has berated the board of Guinea Insurance Plc over its persistent financial losses and inability to pay dividends to shareholders.
Speaking Tuesday at the 64th Annual General Meeting of the Company in Lagos, Okezie bemoaned the yearly losses suffered by the company in its annual financial reports abd payment of regulatory fees and other levies over infractions by the company.
Guinea Insurance Plc has consistently posted losses in its annual reports, recording N227.6 million and N23.5 million loss in full year 2020 and 2021 respectively.
According to Okezie, the company’s consistent failure to pay dividends to shareholders does not encourage more investments from investors.
“A man that has been given birth to 64 years ago is not a small man, he is a grandpa. Mr. Chairman, here we are, year in, year out we come to this place if you look at the page convening this annual general meeting all items were listed but there is no item related to shareholders. Nothing was mentioned about dividends to shareholders,” he said.
“This is a shareholders meeting,, you have your own board meeting Mr. Chairman, we don’t interfere in your deliberations for management to work out, but today Management has failed by not providing the elusive dividends to shareholders of this company. 64 years old man must fend for his family. So where are we been fend? A father that cannot fend for his children will not be called a good father.
“Mr. Chairman going forward, what are the plans to return us to profitability that will entitled us to dividends? We need thorough explanation, when will we be having dividends to all stakeholders?,” Boniface queried.
“You have over several shareholders and thousands who have invested in this company including the big time shareholders or institutional, they are also entitled to dividends,” he added.
According to him, “somebody cannot be bringing his or her money to bail you out or to invest and he would not have the proceeds accrued to him. He can’t be happy with the board and management. If you are having return on investment you would be happy to put in more money in the business. If you run to him that the business is down and you need money, he would tell what did you do with the money he gave you before. He would not be happy to support you, that is the basic truth we most tell ourselves.
“But other areas i want to address is legal fees if you look at the legal fees, you need to do something to make sure that we don’t spend so much on legal fees. Look at the feed N57 million as against N37 million the previous year, we need to watch it; legal and professional fees. It’s going up, we need to do watch it and do something about it. If you look at the auditors’ fees, they maintained the status quo and we are spending high in other areas. N5 million, they are still charging year-in-year-out.
The shareholder also enjoined the board and management to look into staff welfare, stressing that Guinea Insurance must not be a poaching ground for other companies.
“Also, the staff welfare must be paramount in doing business. We must take care of staff, welfare must be maintained so that you don’t train and retrain and others take them by force by poaching them. This is not a poaching ground. You must also maintain your staff si that they can continue to give in their best. It’s very key.
“Everybody is collecting. levy to regulators, annual levies to regulators, they are all collecting money. The people that are left out are shareholders, who are not collecting dividends. NAICOM dues are being paid. Its here Mr. chairman. NAICOM collected N14 million, in fact N14.7 million this year we are talking about,, last year was N13 million. If that ab14 million comes to shareholders today, won’t we clap for you? It may translate to 5 kobo in dividends. But regulators are not help bg you to stay in business, they are killing the industry. That is the truth. If they are doing what is expected of them and companies pay money to them, i won’t have any quarrel with them because they are doing their job.
“I believe a word is enough for the wise N23 million loss position . The difference is by want to talk about that. But i know if things are done well, you can wipe it out. Within three months of business, you can address that issue. I want you to assure us shareholders that the loss you incurred that by next year its going to be a different ball game. And that the board abd management has the capacity to wipe it out and give us profit. It’s achievable and doable. That is the task we have given this board. Your account Must be positive and not negative,” he said.
”
Reacting, Chairman, Board Of Directors of Guinea Insurance Plc, Godson Chukwudi Ugochukwu assured shareholders that better day are ahead, noting that the board and management of Guinea Insurance are doing a lot to meet the demands of shareholders.
“On behalf of the board and management of the company, we all serve at your pleasure. This is your meeting. We hear you and we hear you loud and clear. And we appreciate the feedback and we believe that we are best fed by feedback, thank you so much sir. On the failure to provide for shareholders dividends, we didn’t think there was a need to tintilate your appetite and tell you that there was nothing, if we invited you to eat. Then you open the plate and no food to eat. We thought that would be worse than just leaving it out,” Ugochukwu stated.
Continuing, he said, “but one thing though is that as you did observe, we are one or two steps away from that promise land. It’s a progress we are making. All your comments regarding it are well noted abd i assure you sir that they will form part of the minutes of the meeting. The board and management have heard you and we heard you with the hearing of the ear and the hearing of the heart. Please be rest assured sir, we go back and we do not rest on our oars. By the way, the shareholders of this company have been the strongest wind beneath our wings. The strongest through out the challenges that we face, edification the challenges that the economy faces.. We have been blessed to have a very supportive shareholders body.”
Comments are closed.