Caverton Offshore Support Group Plc, Nigeria’s foremost indigenous offshore logistics services provider, has disclosed plans to boost its business through diversification within the aviation and marine sectors while exploring other more profitable areas for investments and business development.
Chairman of Caverton Group, Aderemi Makanjuola, who made the disclosure during the 14th Annual General Meeting held in Lagos on Tuesday, noted that the operational year ended December 31, 2022, marked the coming to fruition of a key component of the company’s diversification strategy with its training arm becoming operational.
“A total of 22 personnel of the Nigeria Air Force were trained on various aviation enrichment courses at the Caverton Training Centre being the first of many planned short courses that will continue,” he noted.
Besides the training business, Makanjuola disclosed that the company is increasing its operation in the marine sector with the construction of 40-seater water buses which will improve revenue and profit in the years ahead. The water bus business is expected to come into operation by the end of the ongoing financial year.
The chairman proudly informed shareholders at the AGM; that the boats are locally made and are wholly financed internally without securing a debt.
Chief Executive Officer, Caverton Plc, Olabode Makanjuola, disclosed that the board of directors is working towards attracting foreign investments into the company.
He noted that its Cameroon partner, COTCO, signed a new contract with Caverton in May 2023. This is despite the unfortunate helicopter crash in Cameroon which adversely affected the operations of Caverton in the financial year ended 2022.
Furthermore, the Caverton chairman told shareholders that there were moves to restructure the debts of the company with the various financial institutions from which it gets funding to run its business.
This is as one of the company’s shareholders, Nona Awoh, expressed displeasure about the rising indebtedness of the company to banks.
“We paid N12bn debt this year and about N32bn is still pending. I want to know the other funding models that our company seeks to adopt?” Awoh had inquired.
Another shareholder, Sir Sunny Nwosu, was not pleased that shareholders did not receive dividends in the last two financial years and asked if the trend would change in the new financial year and going forward.
Responding, the CEO of Caverton assured that the dividend drought being experienced by the shareholders will soon end. He disclosed that 2023 is expected to produce a more impressive result than the preceding two years.
Meanwhile, the financial performance of Caverton suffered a setback in the financial year ended December 31, 2022, with the group’s revenue dropping by 16 per cent from N34.76b in 2021 to N29.23b in 2022. As a result of the decline in revenue, the Group recorded a loss after tax of N5.08b in the review financial period, representing a nine per cent decrease from N5.06b recorded in 2021.
After-tax loss stood at N5.16b as against N4.34b in 2021.
The group’s total assets also dropped by seven per cent in 2022 at N74.46b compared with N79.80b reported as of December 31, 2021.
Looking ahead, the CEO noted that the company will continue to capitalise on the abundant opportunities available in the global market and Africa while providing quality marine and aviation logistics services to support companies within the oil and gas industry.
