21 Nige.rlan
T r ibu ne Wednesday, 6 Ju ly, 2011
Frida y Ekeob a, Lagos
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FTER seve ral mo nths of ree n gi ne e ri ng and its d etermination to ge t ou t o f the w oo d s, Afribank Nigeria Pic m ay ha\'e finally retumed to p ro fi tab ili ty fo llow in g stro ng p rospects s hown in the beginning of its fi nancia l yea r in 2011. This is comin g on the heels of renewed investu rs' inte rest in the bank's sha res in recen t tim es, even as the value of the ba n k's s hares have appreciated by 14 per cent in three days of trading last week. In the ba nk's full yea r Rccou nts ended December 3 1, 2010, made avail· ab le to th e N ige r ia n Stock Exc ha nge (NSE) for filling, the bank recorded a profi t o f N1.9 billion from a loss position of N230billion in the corresponding period of 2009. T he ba n k's stock, \Vhich was N I. 24 penu lt im ate week w hen lis resu lts we re a nnounced , m oved u p to Nl.41 at the dose of trading last week. Despite the challenging economic e n v ironment, the bank' s cu stomer deposits gn"w by 13 per cent to N281.38billion in the 20 10 fi nancial year from N 249.50 bill ion in 2009. The bank cl ai m ed it was ab le to ac hi eve g rowt h in its i nd ices through agg r es s ive and focused business drive, ope ratio n a l restructu r ing, m arke t penetrat io n, restruct uring of its su bs id ia r ies and e ffi c ient
ut ilisa ti o n o f resoorces. The imp roved ratios of the b.mk a re an indication tha t the growth stra tegies in itia ted by the Nebolisa Arah -Ied ma n agem e nt and anchored on a hvoyear action plan is del ivering on its promises. The aim is 10 deliver results that show a cont:inuous positi ve trend . "We w ill continu e to rem ain focused on effici ency and sou n d corpora te governance In our o pe ra tions as we im p le m en t the guided growth of OUT strategic turnaro und p lan," Mr. Nebol isa A rah, Afriba n k's G MD con fi rmed. The bank said it had, d uring the fi nancial year, achieved major business b reak thro u gh s s u ch as joi ning the b ig lend e rs clob to MTN Nigeria and reactivated relationships wi th man V m u h ina linnals such ..;, Julius Berger, Reyno ld Cons tr uction Compa nies among oth ers. Afribank's creative partnership approach to manag in g gove rnme n t accounts and a gencies also y ielded results w ilh the ba nk now eme rgi ng as a lead ing collections bank for ma ny gove rnment and p ri vate institutio ns. The ba nk's two-year strategy, now at consolida tion stage, was formulated in Decembe r 2009 w ith an overall intent to ensure the business con· tinuit y of Afribank by Ie· veraging com petiti\'ely on va lue chain,. service excel· lence, grou p integration, product in nova tion and marke t intell igence, cost leade rsh ip and tech nol-
ogy.
- From len. Chie f ComplJan ce O fficer / Company Secretary, Mrs. Ored eji Delano; Chairman, Th e A ide o f Egbaland, H is Royal Highness, Dba Michae l Adedotu n Gba debo snd M llIlsg;ng Director / Chie f Executive O fficer, M.r. Wale Tinubu, all o f Oan do Pic, during th e com pany's 34th A nnual Gener al M eeting, h eld in Lagos, .recently . Photo: Syl vester Okoru wlJ.
Access Bank strengthens commitment Od i dis o n
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g loba l warm ing, Access Da nk has commenced the .serond phase of its Coing
Green; Bey ond Words campaign in N iger a nd Sokato states. It willberecalledthatthe bank entered into a strategic partnership with Idea Bo ilder Initia ti ve to execute the pilot phase of the campa ig n w hich resolted in the planting of over 2,500 trees in Lagos, Abuja and Ab ia State between 2009 and 2010. The """'" ".,.,. of the tree planti ng ca mpa ign, w h ich was launched in Niger State last week and w ill be inaugu rated in SokotoSt.-,te next \\'l'Ck,. had
distributed to piu1icipating schoo ls and students to p romote enligh tenment about thewidevarietyoftrees that support environmental sustainability. Coing Green; Beyond Words is designed 10 impro\"e theenvironment by helping to moderate the dirndte, improve air quality and support neighbourhocxl beautifia tion. Spea kin g on the initiath'C, the Grou p Head, En te rp rise Business Su ppo rt Group, Ojin i O lag here, said, "Thi s corporate commitment is the firs t of its kind in Nigeria and we are excited to join fo rces w ith the
Acorn Petroleum poised for leadership in oil marketing sub-sector -KoJapo Friday Ekeoba, Lagos
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MIDST da unting challenges in the petroleu m ma r· keting sub-sector of the economy, the Chairman of Acorn Petroleum Pic, Mr. Kolapo Lawson, has said that the compa ny has mapped ou t st rategies to enable il take advil ntage of opportunities offered b)' the two-year global recess ion to emerge the market leader in the sector. Addressing s h areholders at the company's 28t h Annua l Ge neral f.,·leeting (AGM), last week, Lawson noted that the ex pansion drh 'e and opera tional excellence uein ~ engaged in by the
ma nagemen t would en· sure "a lue creation fo r all stakeholders. He noted tha t, tu rn over (or the year e nded 30th Ju ne, 2009, rose by 238 per cent 10 N19.2 billion frOIll NS.6 billion recorded in equ iva len t period of 2008. "The gross profit a lso grew by 413 per cent from NS 18 mi llion in 2008 to N3 billion in 2009. " H owever, our company declared a g roup loss after tax of N I.25 bi lli on liS compared to a profit of N276 million in the previous year," h e stated . Ex p laining t he
company's group loss in the period under fC \·jew, t~e Acorn cha irman at ~ tribu ted lhe loss position to among o ther thi ngs foreign exchanges losses incurred as a res ult of deva lu a ti on o f the nai ra, h ig h fina n ce cos ts, as we ll as th e cha llenges posed by its g row th pla ns Lawson assured the shareholders of the board's resolve to sellie all issues m ili lati ng against its company's performa nce, saying that the manage~ ment was determined to delive r a be " ~ r performance in the coming yea.r. He also assu red of the
board's resolve to remain a united and strong fo rce in view o f t h~ cha llenges ahead to boost its pe rfo r~ ma nce in 20 1 I a nd be ~ yo nd . On the compa ny's employee em pow~rment, he said , "the com pa ny conti nues to p lace prem ium on the development of its hu m an capital in the kf\Pw ledge that this wo uld e ns ure impro\'ed efficiency. TIle rompa ny is committed to keeping em~ ployees fully informed as much as possible regarding the company's performance and progress and seeking their views wher' ever possib le on ma ilers which particu larly affect them as employees."
system and Idea Duilders Initiative on the erasure of our carbon foo tp rin t. We h ave broadened o ur horizons to cover Niger and Sokoto states." HWe hope not only to hel p towards red ucing the annual haze that blankets the regio n, but also contributetoprolerting:and prese rving the natura l envi ro nment as an invaluable asset. At Access B:mk PIc, weseeitisas part of our social responsibility to protect and presef\'e the environment as best as \\'C can, lind th is ini tiative -
Words, is designed to achieve these objectives," she added. Also,Executi"eDirector, Idea Builders, Lucy Kanu, said : HThe re are seve ral environmenta l initiatives taking place in Nigeria but what makes 'Coing Green; Beyond \Vorrls' unique is that it has the ability to account for all trees planted by pu pils in partner schools. Con tribu ti ng ind ividua ls and institutions will receive troe planti ng certificates with exact data on where and what trees they planted."
Oceanic Bank rewards Western Union Odldl son customers Oma nk h a nle n, Lagos
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CEANIC 8.1nk has eward ed its cus t omers through the Westem Union Easter promo, which was the first point-ba5ed loyalty promo in the industry. grand prize The winners. who were from d iffe rent pa rts of the country, indeed expressed their profound joy aboul the fulfillmell t of the bank's p ro m ises and its ~ognition of their loyalty. The winne rs unanimously attested to the fact that the bank's quality service and reach were the main reasons w hy they preferred to co ll ect their mon ey tra nsfers at Ocea n ic lJank. Some of the prizes \\"011 by custo me rs who
<lccu mu lated highest rewards points include 42 inch LCD, generator set. gas cookers. lJIackbcrry phones w ith months internet connectivity, 05n demders, water dispensefS Microwave Ovens anc DVD plaYer5. TIle loyall) points were based on the 3mOWlls received as well as the number of times the customers received monies th rough Westem Union at C>ccanic B.mk during the 5week promo period. l lie promo, \Vhich ra n from April 17 to May 24, 2011 , rewa rded every customer who received Western UniOl\ money transfers through the bank w ith ins tant gift· items ranging from umbrellas, wallets,. pens, w<tter bottles and key holders. The additional loyalty rewards were the icing on the Gke.