The Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian Stock Exchange, Mr. Oscar Onyema, OON, has called on the Board and Management of Nigerian Aviation Handling Company Plc (NAHCO) to continually adhere to high standards of corporate governance.
Onyema made this call during the presentation of Facts-Behind-the-Figures by NAHCO Plc at the Stock Exchange yesterday.
While welcoming the Board and Management team of NAHCO Plc, Onyema commended the company for choosing the Stock Exchange platform to inform the market of its financial performance, as well as its strategic and operational developments.
“Given that the market is driven by timely, relevant and accurate information, your interaction with the market through this forum is very welcome and we encourage you to continue with this trend”, Onyema noted.
He commended NAHCO on its transformation agenda which commenced in 2018 with an upgrade in the company’s facilities and purchasing of new ground handling and service equipment for business efficiency.
“The company has also taking the right steps in engaging the services of a global consulting firm to provide a 5 year strategy plan to completely restructure the organisation for business expansion. We implore the Board and Management of NAHCO to also consider taking advantage of the various benefits that the Nigerian Stock Exchange provides for both capital formation and business expansion.
“Despite challenging operating conditions in the country, the company’s audited results for the year ended 31 December 2018 highlighted positive performance across key financial indices. The company recorded a growth of 24% in revenue from ₦7.9billion in 2017 to ₦9.8billion in 2018. The 2019 first quarter results were also positive with a 20% increase in revenue from ₦2.1billion to ₦2.6billion and 88% increase in profit after tax from ₦97.5million to ₦183.5million”.
The NSE Chief Executive disclosed that at the Exchange, “we continue to provide a platform to support listed companies in meeting their strategic business objectives. We will continue to position ourselves as the African Exchange of choice for issuers and investors by implementing policies aimed at strengthening the corporate governance of our listed companies and providing products that are aligned to investors’ requirements in a fair and orderly market.
“These initiatives have improved investor confidence and repositioned firms listed on the Exchange as attractive investment opportunities. The NSE is positioned as a premiere listing destination for African corporates, governments and international issuers looking to access the capital market.
“ As part of our continued effort to deliver a world-class market infrastructure, we have launched a market surveillance platform – SMARTS – powered by NASDAQ; X-Academy as part of our continuous drive to ensure increased capacity building as well as the launch of a state-of-the-art Data Centre. The Data Centre is consistent with our tradition of pioneering far-reaching innovations within the Nigerian Capital Market.
“In the fast-changing governance and macroeconomic environment in Nigeria and indeed globally, we encourage NAHCO Plc to continuously adhere to high standards of corporate governance. We believe that this will position you to attain deeper social impact, higher regulatory compliance and greater returns for shareholders”.