By Baron Ike
The shareholders of Transcorp Hotels Plc at the company’s 3rd Annual General Meeting (AGM) recently commended the management and staff of the company for recording strong financial and operational performances in the financial year ended December 2016. The company recorded improvements across all financial indices despite the economic recession which took a heavy toll on the hospitality business generally.
The shareholders gave the commendation at the AGM of the company held last week in Abuja. They related Transcorp Hotels Plc feat to the quality of the hotel as the leading hospitality destination in Nigeria; and also described the management of the company as visionary and dedicated as demonstrated by the hotel’s constantly improving quality of service.
The shareholders unanimously approved the board’s recommendation of a final dividend of 40kobo per share stating that they are confident that as the company continues to make progress it will not relent in meeting their expectations.
Speaking on behalf of shareholders, Boniface Okezie, Chairman, Progressive Shareholders Association of Nigeria (PSAN) expressed appreciation to the bank’s board and management for paying dividend at a period when the country’s economy is in dire straits, leading to significant drop in hotel occupancy. He said, “At a time when a lot of companies prefer to cut dividend with a ready excuse in the current state of the economy, we are delighted that our company has paid dividend which will go a long way in meeting our financial needs”.
Also speaking, Muktar Muktar, President, Trusted Shareholders Association, commended Transcorp for what he termed a stellar financial performance amid a challenging period and the dividend payout which he said was equally laudable.
According to Muktar, Transcorp has not relented on its oars and has continued to shine brightly delivering world class service to an ever growing clientele of top notch guests across the world. Little wonder it has consistently won numerous awards and most recently bagged a long list of honors in 2016 that will make even its competitors go green with envy. “We are proud of this achievement and encourage the MD and its board to continue in this direction”. At this point, the shareholders gave a standing ovation to the MD for not just winning the Seven Stars 2016 CEO of the Year at a global event, but for also leading Transcorp Hilton to win Seven Stars Seal of Excellence Award for the first time.
Earlier, Chairman of the company, Olorogun O’tega Emerhor explained to shareholders that the strong performance recorded by the company is because the company continued to reinvent its offerings, keeping with service excellence. He noted that the company was relentless in maintaining market leadership in its flagship property, closing the year with an occupancy rate of 60% well ahead of competition. This according to him ensured Transcorp delivered a resilient performance even in the face of the impact of economic recession concerning the hospitality industry which has seen occupancy for large hotels drop below 35%.
“2016 was a year of notable achievements for Transcorp Hotels Plc, despite the strong economic headwinds. The upgrade of Transcorp Hilton Abuja is underway in harmony with our commitment to stakeholders to build Africa’s choice hospitality assets”, Emerhor said.
He noted that, in validation of Transcorp Hilton Abuja as the prime hotel property in Abuja, the hotel won numerous awards in 2016 and for the fourth year in a row emerged the proud recipient of five prestigious awards at the 23rd World Travel Awards, the laurels include Africa’s Leading Business Hotel; Nigeria’s Leading Business Hotel, Nigeria’s Leading Hotel; Nigeria’s Leading Hotel Suite (the Presidential Suite). The world travel award is recognized globally as the hallmark of quality, with winners setting the benchmark through which others aspire. The hotel also went on to clinch the 2016 TripAdvisor Travellers Choice awards and the 2016 seven stars luxury hospitality and lifestyle awards, Emehor said.
In his review of the 2016 results, Managing Director, Chief Executive Officer of Transcorp Hotels, Valentine Ozigbo said that the company recorded a 10 percent growth in Gross revenue at N15billion as against N13.4bn in 2015. This according to him was largely driven by key events including visits by very high profile guests, many foreign heads of government and representatives of consulates. All this he said was due to aggressive business development.
He said that Profit before tax was N5.2billion as against N5.5billion while the profit after tax for the year witnessed a sharp 17 percent growth to 4billion compared to N3.5billion in the previous year. “Our major priorities now is creating value for our stakeholders, improving customer service for our guests and maximizing shareholder value, and we believe very strongly that the foundation that we are laying, by the current upgrade and refurbishment of the Transcorp Hilton Abuja and repositioning of Transcorp Hotels Calabar are certain to yield very positive results.” He said.
“On this premise I am happy to add that our turnaround initiatives for Transcorp hotels Calabar is equally paying off as the Hotel recorded laudable profit for the first time since 2012”. This development he explained was predicated on strategy of increasing occupancy and proactive cost management”. Ozigbo stated.