BY PETER EGWUATU

Transnational Corporation of Nigeria (Transcorp) Plc has disclosed that it is targeting a Profit Before Tax (PBT) of N30 billion for the next financial year.

The Chief Executive officer of Transcorp, Mr. Obinna Ufudo stated this while responding to questions by the shareholders at the just concluded 8th Annual General Meeting of the company held in Lagos. Transcorp recorded a profit before tax of N9 billion for 2013 and recommended dividend of about N5 billion for the first time since its existence.

The CEO said though the N30 billion profit target which was set by the board is ambitious, he assured shareholders that the management would deliver, saying the company is now in the phase two of  its turnaround.

“The first phase was essentially to grow our business lines. As you know, in our first two years, what we tried to do is stabilise the enterprise. We made investment in power plant and others.  Our vision is for Transcorp to be the leading Nigerian conglomerate in key sectors that can contribute to growth of the economy. We have chosen those sectors to be hospitality, energy and agriculture,” he said.

Ufudo said in the power business, the company will focus on concluding the rehabilitation of a number of identified turbines  to improve generating output at Ughelli plant to 700 megawatts.

“Our oil and gas business will witness a speedy take-off as we expect to finalise negotiations of the production sharing contract of OPL281 with the Department of Petroleum Resources. We will embark on aggressive drilling campaign for commercial production before the end of 2014,” he said.