CPC SHAREHOLDERS WALK OUT OF AGM (PAGE 34)

Story: Rose Hayford Darko & Anasthasia Dzovor, Tema

Shareholders of the Cocoa Processing Company Ltd (CPC) on Wednesday walked out of the 2007 Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the company in protest against the dividend per share declared.
That was after a board member, Mr David Coleman, had announced that each share was to attract an amount of 4Gp.
The shareholders claimed that it was unfair for the board to apportion huge emoluments to itself but give shareholders peanuts.
Mr Coleman, who was deputising for the Chairman of the board, Nana Obiri Boahen, who is also a Minister of State, said the company suffered a serious setback in electricity generation in 2007 but performed relatively better than the previous year.
He said the company made a gross profit of GH¢3.6 million, as against GH¢2.9 million in 2005/2006, representing an increase of 24 per cent over the previous year’s performance.
He disclosed that the second phase of expansion work on the rehabilitation of a 35,000-metric tonne capacity factory was progressing and would be completed in July to increase production and capital.
On the walkout, Mr Coleman announced that the amount per share was insignificant because the number of shares had gone up from 861 million to 1.1 billion depreciating the dividend involved.
He appealed to the Ghana Stock Exchange to educate the public on shareholding and its long-term benefits.
Mr Coleman noted that out of ignorance, the shareholders had expected to recoup everything invested in the shares within the shortest possible time.
He was optimistic that with education, they would realise the need to wait for the shares to mature before receiving substantial dividends.
The Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Cocoa Board, Mr Isaac Osei, announced that for the past 10 years the CPC had ceased to be a subsidiary of COCOBOD.
He commended the management and board of the CPC for working hard to reduce cost through the maintenance of machinery and rehabilitating it for effective operations.
Mr Osei said by 2009 the company would be able to increase profits to be able to satisfy its shareholders and expressed the hope that they could wait for the next five years, within which the dividends would have shot up considerably.
A shareholder, Mrs Amertor Williams, in a contribution on the floor, commended the board for the work done but appealed to it to ensure that shareholders were given a hearing in the declaration of dividends.
She said some of the people had put much of their earnings into the company to help it to grow and, therefore, they had their hopes built on it.
Two board members were re-elected and one appointed to hold various positions on the board.
They were Mr Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, Mr John Amo-Bediako and Mr Oliver Kwabena Ayivi.