Nigeria’s foremost engineering construction company, Julius Berger Nigeria Plc, has won the award as the company with the ‘Highest Dividend Growth’ in the country’s stock market for the business year 2022.
The meritorious award which is strictly based on objective facts and figures already in the public domain through the Securities and Exchange Commission, was given to Julius Berger at the 2022 Pearl Awards ceremony which held at the iconic Eko Hotels in Nigeria’s business and financial hub, Victoria Island, Lagos. This year’s awards is themed ‘Sustaining Excellence through Tenacity.’ According to the Nigerian Stock Market Annual [NSMA], which was presented to stakeholders and the very distinguished guests at the ceremony, the 2022 Pearl awards criteria and methodology is based on nine distinct criteria. These include turnover growth, earnings yield, returns on equity, dividend yield, dividend growth, dividend cover, net asset ratio, profit margin ratio; and share price appreciation. Julius Berger Nigeria Plc won in the Market Excellence Awards category, where each award is made in recognition of entire market leadership in respect of the indices listed above.
According to the former Chairman, Nigeria Economic Summit Group, Mazi Sam Ohuanbunwa, in its almost three decades of consistency, transparency and objectivity as facts-based, the Pearl Awards have encouraged companies to promote good corporate governance and ascending performance. This, he said, meaningfully underscores the theme for the 2022 Pearl Awards: ‘Sustaining Excellence through Tenacity.’
The Pearl Awards Report 2022 in scoping out the research for the awards, states that “…in line with the broad policy oft he Pearl Awards Project, data used in appraising companies were gathered from verifiable sources including Annual Reports of quoted companies and the Nigerian Exchange Limited’s [NGX] Daily Official List 2021’’. The Report further states that ‘‘for the purpose of being current with the reports used, a cut-off period was established, which ranged between June 2021 and June 2022.’’
It would be recalled that Julius Berger Plc had earlier announced a visionary growth policy based on a tripartite business strategy that revolves around the company’s core construction business, its subsidiaries and a robust diversification policy. This growth strategy was recently highlighted and celebrated at the company’s well-attended and widely reported Investor Relations Forum by the Managing Director, Engr. Dr. Lars Richter as the pivot upon which the company has progressively and productively built its success and status as every serious investor’s destination.
At the prestigious award ceremony in Lagos, which was graced by the Governor of Lagos State, His Excellency Babajide Sanwo-Olu in person, the Chairman of Julius Berger Nigeria Plc, Mr Mutiu Sunmonu, CON, the company’s Managing Director, Engr. Dr. Lars Richter, Board members, Mrs Gladys O. Talabi and Mr Ernest C. Ebi, MFR, FCIB, FIOD, were also in attendance. Other guests in the Julius Berger delegation to the event included the company’s Senior Executive, Strategic Business Development, Mrs Ndifreke Nkochio, Mr Seyi Johnson, and the Head of Julius Berger’s Media Relations Office, Prince Moses Duku.
Other recipients of the worthy awards at the event were the Dangote Group, Presco Plc, Transnational Corporation Plc, Guiness Nigeria Plc, Flour Mills of Nigeria Plc, Vitafoam Nigeria Plc, Fidelity Bank Plc, N.E.M. Insurance Plc, United Capital Plc, Fidson Healthcare Plc, Courteville Business Solutions Plc, Dangote Cement Plc, TotalEnergies Marketing Nig. Plc, UH Real Estate Investment Trust, Transcorp Hotels Plc, Learn Africa Plc, Nigerian Aviation Handling Co. Plc, Multiverse Mining and Exploration Plc, , Universal Insurance Plc, Nestle Nigeria Plc, Wema Bank Plc, amongst others.