BusinessDay 24 May 2017

Wednesday 24 May 2017
NEWS
May & Baker not in merger talks – Aboderin
Ayodeji Aboderin, executive
director, Finance,
May & Baker
Nigeria Plc, has told
BusinessDay Newspapers that
the pharmaceutical giant is not
negotiating a merger deal with
Fidson Pharmaceutical, or any
other party.
May & Baker is a leading
pharmaceutical company in
Nigeria with over 72 years of
doing business in the country.
It is also one of the few Nigerian
pharmaceutical companies
certified for Good Manufacturing
Practice (GMP) by the
World Health Organisation
(WHO).
“May & Baker has consistent
record of growth in sales
and profitability with a culture
of robust dividends payment,”
said Aboderin in a letter to
BusinessDay yesterday. “It
has earning capacity above
industry average.”
AMAKA ANAGOR-EWUZIE
Four months after the
Nigeria Customs Service’s
(NCS’s) Federal
Operations Unit
(FOU) intercepted 49 boxes
loaded with 661 pieces of
pump action rifles imported
into the country from China,
the Tin-Can Island Command
of the Service yesterday
in Lagos impounded
440 guns of various sizes and
designs.
Speaking with newsmen,
Monday Abuse, assistant
comptroller general of Customs
said that the contraband
cargo was shipped from
Turkey.
Abueh also said a suspect
has been arrested in connection
with arms import. The
Since joining the Nigerian
Stock Exchange in 1994,
Aboderin said that the company
has continued to better
its year-end financial performance
and has won the best
performance award of the NSE
in the healthcare category over
six times.
BusinessDay had reported
on Monday that Fidson Pharmaceutical
was said to be looking
to acquire May and Baker
Nigeria Plc, an event which the
publication deemed should
be growth positive for the
sector which is grappling with
higher input costs, counterfeit
drugs, lack of meaningful patent
legislation on pricing, and
a chronically underfunded
healthcare sector.
May & Baker, with a market
capitalisation of N1.4 billion, is
the best performing Pharma
stock on the Nigerian Stock Exchange
(NSE) with a 56 percent
gain year to date. The company
constructed what was West
Africa’s biggest pharmaceutical
plant in 2007 and diversified
her operations into food processing,
Aboderin said.
“May & Baker began West
and Central Africa’s first private
vaccine production investment
with 51 per cent stake in
Biovaccines Nigeria Limited,
a public private partnership
with the federal government of
Nigeria for local manufacture
of vaccines, a project that is
expected to take off soon.”
“The company continues
to grow in leaps and bounds
with new investment in roads
that make her future even more
alluring.”
May & Baker was priced at
N1.28 per share at The Nigerian
Stock Exchange as at the close
of trading yesterday, the price it
has retained for three consecutive
trading days.
Customs intercepts imported 440 guns at Tin-Can port
CHANGE OF NAME
I, formerly known and addressed as
Miss Chioma Jane-Frances Igbor
now wish to be known and addressed
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consignment, according to
the Zonal Comptroller of
Customs was declared as
POP powder to cover up the
illicit import.
Abueh explained thst
the container with number
PONU 210024 was picked up
based on intelligence adding
that investigation into
how and who is behind the
import is ongoing. “Right in
my hand is a sample pump
action of various designs.
Based on intelligence report,
this command identified the
container and the container
was intercepted even before
declaration.
“On opening the container,
we discovered that
they used POP powder to
conceal the importation but
based on intelligence report
we were able to know that
the container was laden
with arm.
Industry stakeholders
blamed the rising crime
wave caused by high rate
of unemployment in the
country for the growing rate
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of arms importation in the
country.
Emma Nwabunwanne, a
Lagos based importer told
our correspondent in a telephone
interview that the
current economic downturn
that led to job loss in different
sectors of the economy
is beginning to take toll on
security of lives and property
by way of youths indulging in
armed robbery and kidnapping
for ransom.
“It is worrisome to know
that the National Bureau of
Statistics (NBS) statistics reported
that the nation’s gross
domestic product (GDP) has
contracted again in the first
quarter of the year, showing
that hope for economic
recovery and job creation
are still far from reality,” said
Nwabunwanne.
According to him, there
is need for the Federal Government
and its economic
management team to put in
place, structures that would
bring the economy back on
track so that there would be
food on people’s table, crime
rate would reduce and Nigerians
would assure of safety.
According to Dennis
Amaeshi, importation of
arms and ammunition is a
usual trend that when politicians
start warming-up for
election. “Though, it may
seems that 2019 election is
still far as we are currently
in 2017, but we sincerely
believe that arms import is
a trend that is synonymous
election preparation.”
Recall that in December
2016, Tin-Can Island Port
Command also intercepted
guns and ammunition concealed
in an imported used
vehicle, and another sets of
arms accessories hidden in
a container loaded with used
vehicle.
The items impouned include
-one Omini American
Tactical riffle numbered
AR48634; another riffle- one
moasberg American pump
action numbered U648018; an
additional 3,500 pieces of premier
gun pellet and another
4,000 pieces of gun pellet.
The container also had 26
packages of already-mademilitary-food;
nine pieces of
military bullet proof verse; a
piece of military helmet; a
piece of military gas mask;
two pairs of glasses; two
pairs of military booty and
one piece of riffle paunch.
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BUSINESS DAY 34