Market News

By Helen Oji

•As shareholders of Academy Press okay N60.48m dividend, bonus issue

Operators in the printing subsector have rued the depreciation of the naira coupled with the rising energy cost and its impacts on the sector, urging government to impose higher tariffs on imported items to encourage local production.

Speaking in an interview with The Guardian at Academic Press PLC’s 58th yearly general meeting held in Lagos at the weekend, the company’s Managing Director, Olugbenga Ladipo, said the industry is stifled by an increase in the cost of production and administrative expenses. He said most companies contend with hike in the cost of materials among others.

He pointed out that with the devastating effect of the COVID-19 crisis on the manufacturing sector there is a need for the government to support the industry by imposing higher tariffs on imported finished goods and eliminating charges on raw materials to grow indigenous firms.

“We are having a challenge with operations. Two major issues are relevant; the energy has become very disruptive now because the public power is not there and the in-house power, which is run by a generator, is very expensive. Diesel price has gone up four times within a short period. You can imagine the effect of that on our operation.

“The second is the effect of foreign exchange shortage. It is not even available and when you can get it, it is very high. It is impacting on our cost of raw material because there is hardly any material that you use in Nigeria that does not import dependent,” he said.

Ladipo said the industry is in dire need of a new policy direction to facilitate the establishment of local paper mills and the production of relevant printing materials.

“More important, we should be able to channel our efforts into local production because when you do not produce, you are import dependent. We must begin to produce things we import, this is the area that government needs to focus on,” he said.

Reviewing its performance at the meeting, the chairman, Wahab Dabiri, lamented that the economic environment is taking a toll on the nation’s financial capacity, which is having a multiplier effect on the company’s various diversification initiatives.

He said the firm’s light packaging project is yet to reach the expected level. However, he pointed out that meaningful progress has been made in other backward integration efforts on paper and material availability as well as in the areas of processes digitalisation.

Also at the meeting, the company’s shareholders approved a total dividend of N60.48 million culminating in 10 kobo per share and a bonus of one share for every four held by its investors.