By Peter Egwuatu

THE Board of Directors of Vitafoam Nigeria Plc, has attributed the company’s outstanding top line performance despite the inclement operating environment to leadership ingenuity, innovation and passion of its young managers.

Vitafoam posted an after tax profit of N1.57 billion in 2019 as against N486.120 million in the preceding year, an increase of 224 percent. The frontline manufacturing company also declared a cumulative dividend of N525, 354 million, an increase of 102 percent over N260.5 million in 2018.

Speaking at the Company’s Annual General Meeting, AGM, held in Lagos yesterday, the Chairman of Vitafoam Nigeria, Dr Bamidele Makanjuola, said: “Our outstanding performance is not just because we utilized the loans we took from the Bank of Industry and other banks to create value for shareholders but ingenuity of the company’s leadership. Vitafoam is blessed with level headed, innovative and passionate youths that form the core of our managers. Corroborating him, the Group Managing Director, Mr Taiwo Adeniyi, explained that the company had rebranded its products, systems, processes and technology to sustain competitive edge.

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Reviewing the Company’s business performance, Makanjuola said “ The remarkable improvement in performance reflected the effectiveness of improved funding efficiency gains, and impact of the strategic initiatives implemented to address the protracted challenge of low margins in the business.

“The Company leveraged the Bank of Industry’s long -term loan facility and other flexible financing windows by negotiating better trade terms with foreign suppliers of raw materials, thereby sidestepping the middle men.

The resulting reduction in the cost price of raw materials impacted positively on gross margin.”

Commenting at the AGM, Shareholders showered encomiums on the company’s board and management for the good performance. They stressed the need to strengthen the subsidiaries in order to expand the company’s revenue.

They also called on the Management of the Company to look inward in sourcing local raw materials while urging them to take advantage of the Dangote Refinery in sourcing raw materials like petrol chemical products among others.