U.O.O. Nigeria Plc has said it would continue to leverage its core business area where it has a comparative advantage such as real estate, property development and management to contribute to economic growth.
This was shared during the 30th Annual General Meeting of the company held at the Heritage Hotel Akure, Ondo State.
Speaking at the AGM, Chairman of the meeting, Mazi Okechukwu Unegbu, said despite the challenges in the nation’s business environment, the firm managed to follow due process to ensure accountability and prudent management principles for growth.
According to Unegbu, as a strategy for the future, all idle assets are being turned around while existing structures are enhanced not only to improve their esthetics but also to attract more revenues.
The plan said the Chairman is projected to start yielding noticeable results within the next two or three years and as it stabilises, the company would further re-enter trading activities and other areas.
The shareholders deliberated on several issues, including the election and retirement of some directors, the appointment of auditors, election of members of the audit committee and the presentation of a dividend for consideration by the shareholders.
Reviewing the business environment in 2019/2020, the Chairman of the meeting praised the professionalism and resilience of the Board, management and dedicated staff of the company which kept the company afloat under the threatening weight of debt, saying that plans and forecasts were rendered obsolete due to the speed at which economic and fiscal policies changed.
“For instance, consumers were impacted by rising inflation and significant reduction in disposable income. GDP growth remained stable, averaging 2.3 per cent by the fourth quarter, against 1.9 per cent in 2018. At the same time, inflation was relatively high at 11.3 per cent.
During the year under review, the company braced the challenges in poor power supply, low budget implementation and poor transport infrastructure to continue to grow marginally.
The Directors re-elected included Nze Edozie.U. Okafor, Mazi Okechukwu Unegbu, Nze Nwanolue Okafor, Nzekunie Nduaguba, Mr. Gabriel Nkanang and Mr. Mike Esotu representing BOI and Trust Co. Limited, while Nze Malibe Okafor was not re-elected by the shareholders.
Amongst those present at the meeting were the Company Secretary/Legal Adviser, P.C Okwuaya; the Auditors, Oludare Okusanya & Co; the Registrars, PAC Registrars’ Limited; and a representative of the Corporate Affairs Commission.
