At the 46th Annual General Meeting (AGM) of Total Energies Marketing Nigeria Plc on Friday in Lagos, shareholders of the company unanimously approved the proposed N8.49 billion final dividend for the financial year ended December 31, 2023.
The approved dividend represented N25.00 per share, subject to the deduction of appropriate withholding taxes at the time of payment.
Jean-Phillipe Torres, Chairman of the Board of Directors of TotalEnergies Marketing Nigeria, noted that despite the challenging operating environment in the year 2023, TotalEnergies remained consistent in giving return to investments of shareholders.
“2023 was a very specially difficult and challenging year but we are paying a dividend of N25. The company places a high premium on its esteemed and valued shareholders and therefore ensures good returns on their investments each year. We also keep in mind that to continue to offer these returns, the business has to remain profitable,” Torres said.
Speaking on the company’s financial performance, Torres stated that, despite the difficult terrain, TotalEnergies marketing increased its turnover by 32 percent from N482.47 billion in 2022 to N635.95 billion in 2023.
He, however, noted that firm’s profit after tax (PAT) of the company decreased by 20 percent from N16.12 billion in 2022 to N12.91 billion in 2023.
He acknowledged that despite miriads of challenges, the company posted good results which was made possible due to patronage by its loyal customers and commitment from its shareholders, board, management and staff in the face of such adversity.
While noting that the frequent change in the official exchange rate by the CBN negatively impacted lubricant margins but Total Energies continued to grow its market share in lubricants rising to 16 percent, adding that the company has a positively eventful year in its lubricant business with the launch of several products designed for hybrid vehicles and to improve fuel consumption and engine life.
“ It has become more difficult for our lubricants to be counterfeited with the security measures we introduced in 2021. Now, we have new cans and the cans of each of our lubricant lines are color-specific; there are additional security seals on the caps and we have a barcode for each can. All of these undoubtedly provide extensive security for our lubricants,” he said.
According to him, the effects of the country’s security challenge, the naira redesign policy, the removal of fuel subsidies and floating of the naira, and inflation, among other economic policies, affected companies’ overall operations and turnover.
The chairman revealed that in 2023, TotalEnergies, like other marketers, did not import PMS due to the unavailability of foreign exchange while explaining that NNPC maintained the role of sole importer of PMS and TotalEnergies, and other marketers purchased PMS and AGO from NNPC.
“During the year, there were several outages of PMS, which slowed activities in our stations across the country. AGO and Jet A1 remain fully deregulated but access to foreign exchange by marketers continues to be a challenge, inhibiting imports,” he said.
Looking ahead, Torres assured that TotalEnergies remained hopeful and would continue to invest in and deliver top-tier services, while emphasising that the company’s 67-year legacy of providing high-quality products and services is guided by strong ethical standards.
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