The Chairman, Courteville Business Solutions Plc, Afam Edozie has said an increase in electricity tariff, inflation rate, fluctuating price of crude oil and increase in the price of Petroleum Motor Spirit (PMS) are downsides that indicate 2021 may be difficult for Nigerians with pressured disposable incomes.
He stated this at the 16th yearly general meeting of the company in Lagos. Edozie who was represented by the Deputy Managing Director of the company, Wale Sonaike, said though Covid-19 pandemic continues to remain with the country, with the experience garnered last year, 2021 will not be as devastating as 2020.
Despite the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on its business operations, Courteville grew its total assets by 6.68 per cent to N4.31 billion from N4.05 billion recorded in the previous year.
According to him, the firm’s positive result reflects the management’s superior financial competencies to create sustainable value for its various stakeholders.
The company, which is focused on the development of e-business solutions for process re-engineering in all sectors of the economy declared a dividend payment of N0.03 per share to its investors.
“It is without a doubt that 2020 was marked by significant global and local events that had an impact on our business and the wider economy; nevertheless, we were able to deliver results that whilst not as good as in 2019 was satisfactory considering the unprecedented economic disruptions,” Edozie, said.
Due to the impact of COVID-19, the company’s revenue which stood at N1.98 billion at the financial year ended 31 December 2019 dropped by 14.65 percent to N1.69 billion in the comparable period of 2020.
The trend was the same for the company’s profit. The company’s profit before tax of N346.51 million in 2019 dropped to N185.95 million in 2020. The company with business operations in Jamaica paid income tax of N32.38 million in the review year.
The company which holds the record as the first in its sector to be listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) with shareholders’ funds over $8 million reported a profit after tax decline of 3.88 percent to N153.57 million in 2020 from N159.71 million it recorded in 2019.
“Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, we reported good enough financials. Our figures were not as bad as they could have been and not too far off from the previous year,” Group Managing Director, Courteville, Dr. Adebola Akindele said.
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According to Akindele, Courteville had to be innovative by making efforts to cover the space it had lost as a result of the three months lockdown.
On how well the company is positioned to report better performance this year, the group MD said its numbers are showing improvements.
“We are positioning ourselves in the mainstream Fintech sector to be able to take advantage of our platform and be able to get some form of mileage,” he said.
