page 24 NEWS BUSINESS

page 24 NEWS BUSINESS

Dangote Group storms Lagos trade fair, promises pocket friendly prices

From Kayode Ogunwale, Lagos

As part of strategies to grow market share and expand customer reach more customers, companies under the Dangote Group are storming the Lagos International Trade Fair which kicks off today (Friday) at the Tafawa Balewa Square (TBS) and two other centers, all in Lagos.

Companies from the Group that are exhibiting at the fair include Dangote Sugar Refinery, Dangote Agrosacks, NASCON Allied Industries Plc (Dangote Salt), Dangote Rice limited, Dangote Cement Plc, and Dansa Foods Limited among others.

Some of the products to be displayed at the fair include Dangote sugar, Dangote salt, Danq (seasoning), tomato paste, various ranges of fruit juice products and bottled water from Dansa Foods. Dangote Sugar will be offering customers different sizes of granulated sugar packs at the fair.

A statement from Dangote, said the fair has become a veritable venue for introduction of new innovations to Dangote products and that visitors to the group pavilion at both fairs will have the opportunity of buying products of these companies at reduced prices.

A unique offering from the Group in this year’s Lagos Trade Fair is the Dangote Combo pack. The pack contains products from the stable of different companies within the Group and is offered to participants at the fair at a reasonable discounted price.

The statement indicated that, the economy pack which will contain household products like Dangote sugar packets, Salts, Dangote seasoning, Dansa Fruit juic products range would be combined in a pack at a giveaway price.

The combo pack, it stated further will offer participants at the fair an opportunity to purchase all consumable product range in Dangote Group in a single buy which demonstrates the company’s slogan of meeting peoples’ needs.

Dangote Group is of the view that the trade fair is coming at an appropriate time which affords traders and dealers the opportunity to stock their shops for the fast approaching Christmas season while end consumers can also buy and stock for the season.

Subsidiaries like Dansa Foods and NASCON will be hosting students on specific days. The student-visitors to the stand will get special gifts like pens, pencils, erasers and notebooks.

Also, there will be free samples of the products like salt, seasoning, Tomato paste and the Dansa juice drinks for the visitors. Management of NASCON explained that Dangote Salt, seasoning and Dangote tomato paste will be offering free samples to visitors to the Dangote kitchen/restaurant which will be attached to the Dangote Stand to wet their appetite.

NASCON said the company would be giving its customers a good treat at the fair saying it has added to the richness of its products like Danq seasoning and Tomato paste and embark on an expansion of its distribution network to make the product more readily accessible to consumers.

Aside this, the statement said customers wanting to be distributor of any of the Dangote group subsidiaries would have the opportunity to be offered informed explanations by staff of the companies who would be on hand to put the customers through on how to go about it.

Dangote Group would also take turn to have its day during the fair in which the Director of the Group, Halima Dangote would be visiting the stand.

Oando slashes upstream debt

From Mohammed Shosanya,Lagos

Oando Energy Resources (OER), the upstream subsidiary of Oando PLC, yesterday announced the repayment of its $100 Million African Export-Import Bank (Afrexim) loan facility which was utilized in the financing of the landmark $1.5 Billion acquisition of the ConocoPhillips Nigerian oil and gas business in July 2014.

A statement from the company said OER’s net debt position now stands at $500 million; down 44% from $900 Million outstanding at the completion of the COP acquisition.

‘’Confidence in the operations and asset quality of OER by international financial institutions has been further strengthened, notably due to OER’s operational performance in the last 12 months in spite of crude downturn.

‘’OER has achieved significant milestones in the course of the year, including the generation of cash inflow of $283mn from the reset of oil hedges; the commencement of production at Qua Iboe, which added 2,500 b/d to OER’s gross total taking it to 53,169 b/d; and finally an increase in 2P reserves by 82% to 420.3mn boe’’,the statement added.

A $91 Million RBL Upsize was arranged by Standard Chartered Bank and African Export-Import Bank with participation from Standard Bank of South Africa Limited, Stanbic IBTC Bank Plc, and Natixis; while the proceeds, along with cash on hand, were used to repay the $100 Million Afrexim Facility.

Commenting, Pade Durotoye, CEO Oando Energy Resources said: “The upsizing of the RBL loan is a true testament to the quality of the assets we acquired in July 2014. The cashflows from these assets have continued to pay down the Company’s post acquisition debt with the assistance of the value realized from the resetting of our hedge instruments, leaving a debt:equity ratio of 0.57 today, compared with 0.91 in July 2014. OER remains focused on its financial and operational goals of strengthening its balance sheet and maintaining stable production levels through production optimization in these times of reduced oil prices and limited capital investment.”

.

Arik Air rewards passengers with promo

From Abdullateef Aliyu, Lagos

Arik Air has introduced a promo to reward passengers with surprise gifts aboard their flights.

The promo tagged #ArikCares Special Give-Away was designed to reward loyal passengers and further entice passengers to the airline, according to the airline.

Gifts to be given out include a number of iPad Air 2, iPhone 6S, Beat by Dre headphones, laptops, 20-megapixels/1080p cameras, 3D Smart TVs and 3D Blu-ray Home Cinema Systems.

The campaign will run from November 4, 2015 to January 30, 2016, according to the Managing Director of the airline, Mr. Chris Ndulue.

During a flight, a lucky draw will be done using ticket numbers of passengers onboard. The ticket number to be pulled out goes home with a gift handed out in mid-flight.

Ndulue reiterated that the company had grown in leaps and bounds in the last nine years of operations through the trust and loyalty of customers.

He said, “This year Arik Air turns nine. We have grown to be the largest airline in Nigeria and West Africa on the strength of the trust and loyalty of the millions of travelers who have chosen Arik Air as their preferred carrier. It is only fitting that we recognize such deep loyalty and reward it. That is the whole essence of the #ArikCares Give-Away.”

Also speaking, Associate Vice President – Marketing and Communications. Jide Alade added further: “Nothing you do for your customers can be too much. So, while giving out an iPhone 6S or a 3D TV mid-flight seems pretty cool, a smile of satisfaction on a passenger’s face is worth much more than a million 3D TVs to us”.