Chairman’s Statement

Distinguished Shareholders, Members of the Board of Directors, Ladies, and Gentlemen, it gives me great pleasure to welcome you to the 37th Annual General Meeting of our company, Chams Plc. I shall be presenting to you the annual report for the financial year ended 31st December 2020.

On behalf of the Company’s Board of Directors, Management and subsidiary companies, I would like to welcome our shareholders and express my heartfelt gratitude for your continued support, patience, and perseverance over the years.

BACKGROUND

In 2020, the Nigerian economy witnessed the deepest recession since the early 1990s, following the economic crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The virus developed into a global pandemic in early 2020 which caused a global macroeconomic downturn, which in turn affected our domestic economy.

During the course of 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic triggered a paradigm shift across all political, economic, business and social economic structures globally. This necessitated a review of our business plans and business models to ensure that the Company is well positioned to deliver exceptional value to our shareholders in the medium-term.

Together with The Board and Management, we developed and implemented a new Unicorn Vision, to reinvent the Chams Group and open up new frontiers in terms of innovation through consumer-focused digital solutions.

Based on our short to medium-term strategies, there are exciting times ahead for the Chams Group, and we are committed to ensuring that our transformation objectives are achieved within the planned timeframes.

Guided by our clear vision and our organization’s rich legacy, we continue to strive towards our ambitious aspirations. I am confident in our capability to continue to grow and transform our organization to become truly dominant in our chosen areas of business while consistently delivering the returns that our shareholders deserve.

FINANCIAL RESULTS

The Group’s financial performance for the year 2020 was impacted by the contraction of economic activities, occasioned by the global COVID-19 pandemic as most profitability metrics witnessed year-on-year decline.

• Gross revenue of =N= 2.11 billion represents 36 per cent reduction from the previous year.
• The Group recorded a Loss Before Tax of =N=913.13 million resulting from impairment provisions on investment assets, and consequently Loss After Tax of =N=944.88 million.
• Group Total Current Assets rose by 44 per cent from =N=2.5 billion in 2019 to =N=3.6 billion in 2020 primarily from an increase in cash reserves.
• Besides impairment provisions made during the year, we had 27 percent reduction in other administrative expenses in comparison with 2019.
  

DIVIDEND

The company has not declared a dividend for 2020 financial year since there was no distributable profits. However, we are determined to continue our journey in pursuit of sustainable revenue-yielding opportunities that would help build the desired value for our shareholders in the medium-term.

BOARD OF CHAMS PLC

In 2020, there were some changes in the composition of the board. As the founder, and past Group Managing Director of Chams Plc, I was humbly honored and privileged to have been appointed as the Chairman of the Board in March 2020. Mr. Olusegun Oloketuyi and Mrs. Olamojiba Bakare were appointed as Non-Executive Directors to the Board. I welcome them both to the Board and I know that through their vast domestic and international experience, they will contribute significant value to the company.

We were deeply saddened by the sudden passing of our long-serving Non-Executive Director, Professor Oyewusi Ibidapo-Obe (OFR) who sadly passed away on the 3rd of January 2021. The Chams Group feels exceptionally privileged to have experienced his greatness during his journey through life, and we pray the Lord continues to comfort his family.

GOING FORWARD

Our organization has taken significant steps in ensuring that we continue to innovate, grow, and create the cutting-edge digital solutions and services that will be relevant today and fit for the future. During early to mid-2020, we embarked upon a new Vision for the Chams Group with the primary objective to reinvent Chams to deliver value for our shareholders through a Consumer-Africa-Digital approach. This set us on a path to diversify our income streams through consumer-facing innovative digital solutions.

Chams Plc is historically a company which has achieved success and household brand recognition through large projects such as identity management, payroll management, BVN and voter’s registration, amongst others. However, over the past few years, Chams has evolved into a Group with diverse interests, particularly in the digital solutions and Fintech payments space.

A major focus has been to support and grow our Fintech payment interests through our subsidiaries; ChamsSwitch Ltd. and ChamsMobile Ltd, and thereby extending payment solutions across a broad range of consumer and business segments.

We are committed to being a regional leader in the medium-term and in the long-term, a global player in the digital and mobile payments industry. To this end, we will continue to deliver secure, cost effective and innovative digital payment services.

Similarly, we have invested in digital solutions in the labour, logistics and education sectors where we believe there are good opportunities. Our subsidiary Chams Access Ltd. launched a number of innovative digital solutions in 2020; Argone and Pension Central, amongst others.

Other core elements of our vision are to ‘incubate and grow’ digital solutions, ring-fencing for stakeholder value, whilst adopting a 35-year-old start-up culture. This will enable the Group to be nimble and efficient in our drive towards achieving our Unicorn Vision.

It is our unwavering determination to succeed that has sustained us for over three decades, which has also produced a resilient team and a foundation for growth. We are leveraging these strong fundamentals to reinvent and reposition our Company through digital prosperity.

CONCLUSION

I sincerely appreciate the members of the Board for their substantial contributions, as well as our management team and staff for their dedication and resilience during a tough year.

I am confident that the implementation of our vision, particularly investing in, and growing, our Consumer Digital businesses across the Group, will deliver exceptional value for our shareholders.

Thank you

God bless all our shareholders, Board of Directors, and Management
God bless Chams Plc
God bless Nigeria.