Business
Over 61,000 PZ Cussons shareholders are owed unpaid dividends.
Over 61,000 PZ Cussons shareholders are owed unpaid dividends.
PZ Cussons has published the list of its shareholders with unclaimed dividends, with about 61,628 shareholders featured on this list.
According to a corporate filing on the NGX website, the company noted that the list was published on its website instead of in newspapers due to the sheer number of shareholders with unclaimed dividends.
Affected members are strongly urged to engage with the registrars, First Registrars & Investor Services Limited.
They are requested to ensure their records are current and to inform the registrars of any updated information, notably their bank account details for dividend disbursements.
What you should know
In August this year, at the 2nd Capital Market Committee briefing, the Director General of the Securities and Exchange Commission, Lamido Yuguda, noted that unclaimed dividends in Nigeria were in the region of N190 billion.
He also noted that the SEC was working with NIBSS to make some upgrades to the electronic dividend portal.
He said,
“We are working very hard to ensure we reduce the number of unclaimed dividends, and this is why we are upgrading the e-dividend portal with NIBSS to restore investors’ dividends and reduce unclaimed dividends, and we reiterate that every person who has come to the capital market and invested money should be able to get his dividends as and when due.”
At the same meeting, Dayo Obisan, the Executive Commissioner of Operations at the SEC, lamented that despite efforts to get investors to input correct bank details and information and claim their dividends, some kept inputting the wrong details.
In January 2023, PZ Cussons Nigeria Plc paid out about N4 billion in dividends to its shareholders, with dividends set at N1.01/share.
PZ Cussons Nigeria Plc has also been in the news recently due to its announced plans to delist from the NGX and go private.
The majority shareholder, PZ Cusson (Holding) Limited, had announced a N23 per share buyout price for the minority shareholders; however, this has yet to be approved by the shareholders.
This was after the initial buyout price of N21/share was rejected by shareholders.
