02-05-18

BUSINESS A.M. FEBRUARY, MONDAY 05 - SUNDAY 11, 2018
COMPANY
Hedge Funds
21
Institutional investors now own
more than 20% of UAC shares
Institutional investors’ stake
in United African Company
Plc. (UAC Plc.) has grown to
about 22 percent, according
to the company’s disclosure
of changes in beneficial membership
of its shares as announced
last Friday.
In a note to the Nigerian Stock
Exchange signed by Godwin
Samuel, its company secretary
and legal adviser, UAC noted that
the disclosure is pursuant to Rule
12.1 of the amendments to the
NSE Listing Rules.
It said it was notifying the NSE
that Stanbic IBTC Nominees Nigeria
Limited, Blakeney GP 111
Limited and Themis Capital Management
now owned more that
5 percent and above stake in the
company shares.
The notification specifically
indicated that Stanbic IBTC
Nominees own eight (8) percent,
Blakeney six (6) percent and Themis
Capital eight (8) percent of
the company’s shares.
UAC Nigeria was first incorporated
in Nigeria under the name
“Stanbic IBTC Nominees
Nigeria Limited, Blakeney
GP 111 Limited and Themis
Capital Management
now owned more that 5
percent and above stake
in the company shares”
Nigerian Motors Ltd on April 22,
1931 as a wholly owned subsidiary
of the United Africa Company Ltd.
which later became UAC International
(UACI).
UAC International, a subsidiary
of Unilever, included in its
business the activities formerly
carried on by a number of other
companies including The Niger
Company Ltd. and theAfrican and
Eastern Trade Corporation Ltd,
all of which had long-standing
trading links with West Africa.
The company, whose name
was changed to United Africa
Company Ltd in 1943, remained
dormant until 1955 when it became
The United Africa Company
of Nigeria Ltd and started acquiring,
over a period of five years, a
large part of the business of UAC
International. In 1960 C.W.A.
Holdings Ltd, England also a
subsidiary of Unilever, acquired
the interest of UAC International
in the company. Further reorganisation
concluded in 1973 and
resulted in the acquisition of a
number of wholly owned fellow
subsidiaries of C.W.A. Holdings.
Following reorganisation, the
company conducted the acquired
businesses as operating divisions,
which are now in voluntary
liquidation. The company took
the name UAC of Nigeria Ltd in
1973.
In compliance with the Nigerian
Enterprises Promotion Act
1972, 40 percent of the company’s
share capital was acquired in
1974 by Nigerian citizens and
associations and in accordance
with the provisions of the Nigerian
Enterprises Promotion Act
1977, an additional 20 percent of
the UAC’s share capital was publicly
offered in 1977, increasing
Nigerian equity participation to
60 percent. The name UACN Plc
was adopted in 1991.
Its areas of operation include
manufacturing, services, logistics
and warehousing, agricultural
andreal estate.
The current Chairman of the
Board as of 2010 is Senator Udoma
U.Udoma with Mr Larry Ettah
serving as Group Managing
Director and CEO.
Seplat Petroleum lists additional
25,000,000 ordinary shares
Austin Avuru, managing director, Seplat Petroleum Development Company
Seplat Petroleum Development
Company has
announced the listing of
an additional 25,000,000
ordinary shares (about
4.4% of existing shares) on the Nigerian
Stock Exchange, effectively
taking the company’s share capital
to 588,444,561 ordinary shares
of N0.50k each.
The shares all have voting
rights and are particularly allotted
to the management and directors
of SEPLAT in furtherance of
the company’s long-term incentive
plan.
“In light of the above,
SEPLAT’s share capital
now consists of
588,444,561 ordinary
shares of N0.50k each,
all with voting rights”
The company noted that the
corporate action is fully within
the jurisdiction of the powers
granted to the board of directors
by the company’s shareholders
at the annual general meeting
held on 30th June 2014 - to implement
the Initial Public Offer (IPO)
award and other remuneration of
the top management and directors
as disclosed in the IPO prospectus.
In a notification to the Nigerian
Stock Exchange and shareholders
Friday, February 2, 2018, the company
noted that the announcement
is being made in accordance
with Rule 14 of the Nigerian Stock
Exchange Amended Listing Rules
and Article 17 – 19 of the UK Market
Abuse Regulations 2016.
“In exercise of the powers
granted to the board of directors
of the company, by the shareholders
at the annual general
meeting (AGM) held on 30th June
2014 to implement the IPO award
and other remuneration of the
top management and directors as
disclosed in the IPO Prospectus,
25,000,000 ordinary shares of SE-
PLAT has been allotted to Stanbic
IBTC Trustees Limited as custodian
in furtherance of the company’s
long term incentive plan,”
the notification read.
“In light of the above, SE-
PLAT’s share capital now consists
of 588,444,561 ordinary shares
of N0.50k each, all with voting
rights.
“Therefore, the figure of
588,444,561 may be used by
shareholders as the denominator
for the calculations by which they
will determine if they are required
to notify their interest in, or a
change to their interest in SEPLAT
under the NSE Rules and the UK
Market Abuse Regulations 2016.”
CIAPS workshop to help companies see
opportunities in clients, staff complaints
Bukola Odufade
The Ikeja, Lagos-based
Centre for International
and Professional Studies
(CIAPS) has said that
Nigerian companies are
failing to see the opportunities that
exist in encouraging constructive
complaints in their clients and staff.
Anthony Kila, a professor and director
of the centre, told business a.m.
during an interview that companies
operating in Nigeria are failing to address
and encourage constructive
complaints by both staff and clients
and that they are operating under
the belief that complaints are bad for
business and so try as much as possible
to avoid them.
Kila said CIAPS is of the belief that
most companies in Nigeria lack the
requisite skills in staff and management
to see inherent benefits in complaints
that are made about them,
their products and services. It is to
this end that it is organising a one-day
workshop to for companies, businesses
and professionals this month
to deliver the requisite skills required
to address this shortcoming.
“Businesses are not doing enough
and it is a common thing. There is no
clear thing about managing conflict.
People even don’t know how to complain
and part of this is that companies
don’t encourage people to complain
in a proper way,” he said.
According to him, complaints
are formal and structured and
should be treated as such. “Given
the fact that there are no formal
procedures for making complaints
in most organisations in the country
and when there are, complaints
are not taken seriously, leaving the
clients or customers more dissatisfied,”
he explained.
Kila believes that as the economy
becomes more stringent, people
tend to get cranky and complaints
become more frequent, and so companies
have to redress the way they
handle complaints or risk losing
business.
He said: “Companies are not addressing
complaint enough partly
because of perception, as it is seen
as something very nasty; and also
because of the way consumers are
seen. For example, when you walk
into an MTN office, and people are
trying to retrieve stolen lines, you’ll
see that we don’t treat them like
consumers, you don’t think they
are paying, you would think they
are there to beg.”