Bilfinger SE, minority shareholder in Julius Berger Nigeria Plc, plans to sell its 33.4 per cent stake in the company on or before the end of June.
The Nigerian Stock Exchange said in its report for the week ended Friday that Julius Berger Nigeria had notified it of Bilfinger’s decision to dispose of its remaining stake in in JBN to long-term Nigerian investors.
“JBN states that this proposed transaction will lead to the exit of the representative of Bilfinger SE from the Board of JBN. The company added that the decision is based on Bilfinger’s strategic realignment from a construction company to an engineering and services group in the last decade which saw Bilfinger SE divest totally from its construction activities,” NSE wrote in the report.
Julius Berger, however, expressed the confidence that the move would not affect its operations and business.
“The Board of Julius Berger Nigeria Plc and the executive management strongly believes that the exit of Bilfinger SE will not impact on JBN in view of the strategic business directions being undertaken by the Board and management of the company which would sustain and increase JBN’s efficiency and responsiveness as well as set basis for a future of long lasting success,” the notice read.
Julius Berger Nigeria had reported a 4.9 per cent growth in group profit after tax for the 2014 financial year.
While the profit for the year rose from N7.853bn to N8.239bn, the group’s revenue was down by 7.49 per cent from N212.737bn to N196.808bn and the pre-tax profit declined by 19 per cent from N16.220bn to N13.134bn.
However, in 2014, the group grew its shareholders’ fund by 24.06 per cent from N21.034bn to N26.095bn.
The company, however, declared a dividend of N2.70 per share.
JBN’s unaudited results for the first quarter of 2015 showed that its revenue dipped to N43.487bn from N47.690bn in the same period of 2014.
Its first quarter PBT declined by 18.4 per cent from N2.599bn to N2.119bn, while the PAT fell by 26.6 per cent to N1.032bn from N1.406bn.
Julius Berger Nigeria, which has been operating in the country since 1965, is a leading construction company that offers integrated construction solutions.
Meanwhile, the NSE disclosed in the weekly report that a total of 31,722.850 ordinary shares belonging to International Breweries Plc were admitted to trading on Friday.
This, it said, arose from the declaration of one for 85 bonus of 25 kobo dividend declared by the company in 2013. By the action, the total outstanding shares of the company now stand at 3.294 billion units. Agency report
