Intravenous Infusion Plc fails to declare dividends
Intravenous Infusion Plc, Ghana's first intravenous infusions and other pharmaceutical producer, could not declare dividends for the second time since it listed on the country's Alternative Market in December 2015.
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The company attributed the development to the overall financial performance of the company in 2022.
In 2021, the company, citing cash flow issues, failed to pay dividends to its shareholders even though it recorded some profit.
AGM
At the 2022 virtual Annual General meeting in Accra, the Board Chairman, Isaac Osei, said the board of directors of the company was unable to recommend payment of dividends to shareholders, as the revenues and profit of the company were negatively impacted by domestic and external factors.
During the year under review, he said the company's strategic plan of product diversification and market expansion was truncated as a result of happenings in the external environment.
Its cost of operations, he said, went up due to increased domestic energy costs, disruptions in the international supply chain, scarcity of foreign currency for imports of raw materials, cancellation and renegotiation of contracts and high interest rates on borrowed funds.
In 2022, the company recorded an 8.98 per cent decline in revenues compared to a growth in revenue by 9.69 per cent in 2021.
Mr Osei explained that the exchange losses resulting from the depreciation of the local currency accounted for 71 per cent of the total losses recorded during the period.
The company's total equity during the year declined by 19.9 per cent while total assets marginally increased by 0.6 per cent.
Positive outlook
He said all was not lost yet as the outcome of the company's 2023 first quarter performance had given a positive outlook and encouraging signs that there would be improvement in the overall financial performance at the end of this year.
The positive outlook, he said, was also because the government had secured and was implementing an IMF programme which sought to increase the domestic revenue base through new reforms as presented in the 2023 budget statement and the implementation of the restructuring of the domestic and external debts.
The economy, he stated, would begin the journey to recovery during 2023 as the Ghana cedi was expected to stabilise, inflation and interest rates trend downwards and investors’ confidence was improved.
"Although the current economic condition is fragile, l am very optimistic about 2023.
As a company, we shall focus on our core strategies to increase revenue generation and profitability.
We shall continue to leverage on our brand's name and reputation to increase our market share in the domestic market," he said
Mr Osei pointed out that the economy of Ghana, in 2022, like many economies, experienced an economic downturn because of the persisting post COVID-19 impacts, negative effects of the Russian-Ukraine war and an upsurge in international prices of crude oil which slowed global output to 3.2 per cent in 2022.
"In Ghana, the overall GDP growth declined from 5.4 per cent in 2021 to 3.7 percent in 2022.
The cedi lost 30 per cent of its value against the United State Dollar and 21.2 per cent against the British Pound and against the Euro by 25.3 per cent due to declining gross international reserves," he said.
Export market
Later in an interview, the Managing Director of Intravenous Infusion Plc, Moukhtar M. Soalihu, said the company would continue to maintain its focus on opportunities in the export market, increase product diversification and reduce cost of operation.
"We hope that as we work on these things, next year by this time, the story will change," he said.
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Mr Soalihu was happy the government was addressing the external factors which were beyond the control of the company to ensure economic stability.
He said the government's stimulus package had been very beneficial to the company, as the company had used part of the GH¢ 3.2 million accessed, to acquire some machinery but had recently taken a break from withdrawing the rest for the construction of a building to house the equipment.
Two existing board members, Gladys Amponsah and Emmanuel Blankson were re-elected to serve as directors.
The board, also considering the performance of the company, did not recommend an increase in their fees maintaining the persisting fees from the past four years.
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