By PETER EGWUATU

Shareholders of Fidson Healthcare Plc have approved the N150 million dividend proposed by its Board of Directors for the audited 18 months financials ended December 31, 2011.

The shareholders at the 13th Annual General Meeting (AGM) held last week in Lagos commended the Board of Directors for weathering the storm, given the numerous infrastructure challenges facing the economy.

Speaking at the AGM, Mr. Gbenga Idowu, National Coordinator, Shareholders United Front (SUF), said: “Fidson Products are of high quality and comparable with foreign products. We want the management to keep it up and also do aggressive marketing to attract more customers’ patronage. The mission statement of the company is good and must be adhered to. Management should increase its drive to recover debt from debtors so that there will be less provisioning in our financials.”

Mr. Nonah Awoh, another shareholder said, “Management needs to work harder to improve the sales turnover because of the competition in the pharmaceutical industry. Also the company’s funding formula need to be addressed.”

Mr. O. Arogo, another shareholder commended the company’s performance. In his words, “For getting 10 kobo dividend during the harsh operating period the compan is a boost. We want the company to organise investors’ forum so that shareholders can use such avenue to give ideas that will help push up the company. Also, the company should collaborate with the National Agency for Food Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) to fight fake drugs importation and other mal practices in the industry.”

While commenting at the AGM, Chairman of Fidson, Mr. Felix Ohiwerei, said, “During the period under consideration, the company made history by being at the forefront in the war against faking by introducing the soflet technology for CIPROTAB, our brand of ciprofloxacin.

We progressed on the development of Biotech factory and took all necessary steps to comply with the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). We restructured our sales policy and achieved considerable reduction in debtors’ balances.”

On the financial performance, he said, “Result for the period is a reflection of the challenging operating environment. Turnover for the 18 months ended December 2011 was N7.1 billion. For direct comparison, turnover for 12 months to June 2011 were N4.7 billion as compared with the previous 12 months of N5.1billion. Profit-after-taxation for the period under review was N312 million.

On future outlook, Ohiwerei said: “Our performance during the first half of the current year is in line with our plan. The Board and Management believe that if there are no major disruptions in the second half of the year, the 2012 results will be an improvement on 2011.”