Transnational Corporation of Nigeria to improve performance

The Chief Executive Officer, Transnational Corporation of Nigeria Plc, Mr. Emmanuel Nnorom, has said recent initiatives by the group had positioned it for improved performance, which will translate into better returns for its shareholders.

Nnorom said this in Lagos on Wednesday when he led officials of the group on a visit to the Nigerian Stock Exchange.

The Transcorp CEO, who beat the closing gong on the floor of the Exchange, said several initiatives were being implemented across the group’s subsidiaries, all aimed at ensuring that the group achieving sustained growth.

In terms of the power business, he explained that the ongoing merger of Transcorp Ugheli Power Limited and Ugheli Power Plc would not adversely affect the generation capacity.

Rather, he said the merger, which had been approved by the Securities and Exchange Commission, would boost operational efficiency as it would reduce the duplication of functions, among other things.

At the end of 2014, Transcorp had announced that it had increased generation capacity of Ughelli Power Plant from 342 megawatts at December 2013, to 610MW and that it planned to increase it to 850MW by the end of 2015.

Nnorom expressed the confidence that the power generation target would be met, saying, “The output is still improving and we would continue to generate and reach our goal of 850MW by the end of the year.”

He explained that the plant was experiencing stability in power generation this year, adding that although there had been instances when distribution companies rejected power generated, a recent directive by the NERC had improved the situation.

He said, “In the past, the end users complain that they don’t have enough power, not because we have not generated but because of some bottlenecks in the transmission level and also at the point of distribution but it has been resolved now.

“And with what is going on and the increasing capacity generation witnessed by all the power companies including our own, and the fact that the transmission network is becoming more stable, the end users would have more power available that would translate to more economic benefit for all.”

In terms of the hotel business, Nnorom said Transcorp Hotels is embarking on the full renovation of Transcorp Hilton Abuja. This, according to him, comes with other key milestones including the development of new properties in Lagos and Port Harcourt, the addition of a luxury apartment building and the creation of a 5,000 person capacity convention centre.

Also, Nnorom said Transcorps’ agribusiness, Teragro Commodities Limited, would be the sole local-concentrate sourcing partners for Coca-Cola’s new line of fruit juice to be made from concentrate.

Teragro Commodities processes orange, mango and pineapple concentrates for industrial markets at a processing plant in Benue State.

The 26,500MT capacity Benfruit Plant first began producing concentrate for Coca-Cola in 2014.

Nnorom said it was vital for the country to achieve more stability in terms of the exchange rate, adding that clarity of government policy direction would boost productivity and economic growth.

He said, “All the terms signed with the generating companies should be fully implemented by the government to drive productivity.”

Punch