AG Leventis seeks foreign capital to stem losses

AG Leventis (Nigeria) Plc is in discussions with foreign investors to raise new capital that will be invested in the major areas of the conglomerate’s businesses, after it suffered a net loss of N177 million in 2015.

During the presentation of facts behind the figures to stakeholders at the Nigerian Stock Exchange, chief executive officer, AG Leventis (Nigeria) Plc, Mr. Michael Economakis, said the company was talking with foreign investors to inject fresh capital to boost its major businesses.

According to him, priorities will be given to the company’s businesses in the areas of fast moving consumer goods, automobile, agriculture and real estate over the next two years.

“We are discussing with foreign investors, hopefully there will be capital inflow very soon, this capital inflow will assist us in having better cash flow, there will be reduction in our cost of fund and we will be able to expand our products portfolio”, Economakis said.

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He added that injection of new capital would enable the conglomerate to expand its product portfolio into some niche products with a potential long-term technical service partnership with Pick n Pay, one of the two largest retailers in South Africa.

He noted that the conglomerate had commenced production of vehicles from mid 2015 and now looking at expanding it plans to assemble for other distributors in the region.

He said AG Leventis is also looking at the large-scale farming in Nigeria that would lead the company to backward integration in agriculture.

AG Leventis had recently announced that it had entered into a joint venture agreement with Pick n Pay Retailers (Pty) Limited, a South African company, to establish retails stores in Nigeria.

Audited report and accounts of AG Leventis for the year ended December 31, 2015 showed that profit before tax dropped from N534.04 million in 2014 to N329.38 million in 2015. After taxes, the company recorded a net loss of N176.99 million in 2015 as against net profit of N211.81 million in 2014.

The company’s shareholders’ funds also declined from N9.39 billion in 2014 to N9.09 billion in 2015. Turnover however rose from N11.79 billion in 2014 to N12.54 billion in 2015.

Notwithstanding the loss, the board of directors of the company has recommended distribution of N265 million from its reserves as cash dividends, representing a dividend per share of 10 kobo.

 

 

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