Fidson Healthcare Plc has assured its shareholders of converting the grave challenges posed by the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic into growth opportunities.
Speaking at the company’s virtual 21st Annual General Meeting (AGM) which held in Lagos recently , its Chairman, Segun Adebanji, said the Fidelis Ayebae-led management team are doing a great job in terms of increasing the volume of locally manufactured products that would be available to customers and consumers in the course of the year.
This came as shareholders urged the company to explore opportunities for sourcing raw materials locally against the backdrop of importation challenges occasioned by the COVID-19 lockdown and increasing volatility of foreign exchange (forex) rate.
The National Co-ordinator of the Progressive Shareholders Association, Boniface Okezie as well as the Chairman of Independent Shareholders Association (ISAN), Sir Sunny Nwosu, who was represented by Mr Ibrude Moses, had called on management to create a high tech research department that will focus on how to utilise local natural resources to manufacture orthodox drugs.
Responding, the Chairman noted that the focus of the company’s business in terms of local production actually put the firm in a very good position to leverage the opportunities that COVID-19 provides to meet the needs and aspirations of our Nigerian consumers.
Despite acknowledging that the year 2020 is likely to be a very challenging year, Adebanji told the shareholders that the management was looking forward to a better performance in 2020 on the back of 2019 recovery from loss position.
The board is cautiously confident that given the commitment of the management team and the strategies they have shared with us, and the progress they have made so far in the first half of the year, we have every reason to believe they are going to contain the challenges for 2020. Therefore, I look forward to good 2020 on the back of 2019,” he said.
He noted that “the management team was able to improve the profit after tax (PAT) for 2019 by a whopping N450million. The credit goes to the MD and his team. On behalf of the board, I will like to commend them for a job well done,” said the chairman.