The Group Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Chemstar Paints Industry Nigeria Limited, manufacturer of Finecoat and Shield Paints, Dr. Emmanuel Aderemi Awode, has described the first half of this year as difficult and not very good for the manufacturing sector in the country.
He blamed the poor performance of the firm and others on declining value of the naira, Boko Haram insurgence and other challenges facing the business environment, lamenting that all these have taken a toll on sales volume.
He spoke during the firm’s half year Sales Conference, a forum where the company took stock of its operations and activities in the last six months. The event took place at the weekend at Bezer Hotel, Sango, Ogun State.
According to him, the company was able to record a marginal increase during the period over that of last year in its sales profile and turnover.
He said the forum is designed to review the firm’s activities and business operations, with a view to planning effectively for the remaining six months of the year.
He said: “But, despite the harsh economic environment, the company was still able to post a marginal increase over what it made in 2014.
“We have very marginal increase for 2015 over 2014 and that is expected considering the fact that 2015 has not been a very good year for manufacturers. This half year sales conference is critical to our operations considering the economic situation in the country and the need for us, as a company to plan and re-strategise for the remaining part of the year in order to have a successful financial year in 2015.”
He said Boko Haram, recent fuel crisis and the general elections greatly affected the manufacturing sector. He expressed optimism that with the new government that is determined and passionate about moving the sector forward by creating a friendly business environment, the company would be able to post better results for the remaining part of the year.
He said management has however mapped out strategies to combat the harsh business environment.
He appealed to the Federal Government to intervene in the provision of infrastructure to spur economic development, saying the resources that should have been ploughed back to the business and create more jobs were being spent by manufacturers on running the factories, providing electricity, taking care of access roads to their factories and purchasing fuel.
He lamented that the firm’s half year expenditure rose astronomically due to infrastructural decay such as bad roads, high import duties and the general rise in production cost, which in turn affected the profit margin.
He said: “If the government could come to our assistance by fixing the infrastructural challenges, we will be able to use the money spent on these facilities to improve our manufacturing and employ more workers, thereby reducing the high rate of unemployment in the country.”
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