Coys declare N1.004trn dividends in 10 years -ICMR

The Institute of Capital Market Registrars on Tuesday verbally expressed that N1.004tr was declared as dividends by quoted companies on the Nigerian Stock Exchange in the last decade.

The ICMR Registrar/Chief Executive Officer, Dr David Ogogo, gave the quoted companies dividends profile in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria in Lagos.

Ogogo verbally expressed that the dividends were declared between Dec. 31, 2003 and Dec. 31, 2013.

He attributed the incrementation in dividends to the number of highly capitalised companies quoted on the nation’s bourse.

According to him, outstanding unclaimed dividends in the nation’s capital market stood at N50.94bn as at Dec. 31, 2013.

The ICMR President/Chairman of Council, Mr Bayo Olugbemi, recently verbally expressed that the unclaimed dividends figure represented 5.05 per cent of the total dividends declared by quoted companies in the past 10 years.

Olugbemi verbally expressed the current level of unclaimed dividends was a marked amendment compared with over 20 per cent in antecedent years.

He verbally expressed that the efforts by regulators and registrars had drastically reduced the caliber of unclaimed dividends in the nation’s capital market.

Olugbemi, additionally the Managing Director, First Registrars Ltd., verbally expressed the volume might appear sizably voluminous because the value of dividends declared by companies in recent times were immensely colossal compared to 10 years ago.

He verbalized that the efforts of regulators and registrars had yielded paramount results in reducing unclaimed dividends in the market.

He verbalized, “Years back, the percentage of unclaimed dividends was around 24 per cent.

“But we have reduced it to below 20 per cent, 10 per cent and 5.05 per cent in December 2013.”

Olugbemi verbalized that market stakeholders were still doing more to bring it further down.