Just a year after delisting from the Main Board of the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX), Ardova Plc, Nigeria’s leading indigenous and integrated energy company, is thinking of returning to the floor of the Exchange.
Managing Director of the company, Moshood Olajide, disclosed this while speaking in commemoration of the company’s 60th anniversary.
Responding to questions at the media parley, Olajide said: “Without capital markets, we won’t have a business. Which would be a good answer that you would like, but some of that is true and you would know that we used to be listed on the stock exchange.
“The delisting was done in 2023 when the majority shareholder then acquired the remainder of the minority shares, and we were removed from the Main Board of the Nigerian Exchange. Prior to that, we benefited from the ability to raise funding in the market. So that’s one huge advantage we had”.
He added that the company, while listed, had visibility.
“We had robust engagement when people ask those very difficult questions, because at Ardova PLC, we believe that those difficult questions and feedback are really key to our progress and our success. So those things were advantages to us, and they helped us develop.
“So, being on the board of the NGX was very good for us as a business. It helped us develop in terms of even the ability to make investments, because we already were able to raise funding, our reputation was enhanced. We had robust engagement with stakeholders on how the business could best be run”.
Olajide, who spoke in the presence board and top management of the company said it is the intention of the company to return to the floor of the Nigerian Exchange soon.
His words: “So we think that the relationship with the capital market was very profitable and there is an intention that when all our investments begin to solidify the way we want them, we will come back”.
Speaking on its plans for the future, Olajide said: “I think we need to make it very clear that as a business, we have been investing to demonstrate that we still believe that this business can return formidable returns into the future. So we are investing because we believe in that very strongly, and second, because we will continue to also invest. So it is not like now that we are 60, we are stopping our investment. We will continue to invest to develop our business, to enhance our efficiency and profitability”.
He added that some of the investments the company is making into the future will largely focus on technology.
“All these will lie with how we employ, how we use technology in our business in a manner that increases our operational efficiencies and improves our profitability. So, we project into the future that our numbers will improve even in the coming years, both from a revenue perspective, from a volume delivered in the market and from a net to return perspective”.
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