CPC Promises Shareholders Of Profitability

The Cocoa Processing Company (CPC) Ltd says completion of its second phase of expansion will bolster the company's profitability by a greater margin.

According to the company, the frequent breakdowns of its machinery due to obsolescence and poor quality power supply, underlined the company's slow performance.

Chairman of the Board, Nana Obiri Boahen, said this in an interview, soon after the company's annual general meeting at Osu, Accra.

“CPC has a bright future and shareholders should exercise a little patience to reap these benefits,” Nana Boahen said.

He said the completion of the company's expansion would bring the total capacity of the factory to 65,000 tonnes per annum and generate the needed profitability that would give value to shareholders.

The company went public in 2002, and for two years did not pay dividend due to massive rehabilitation and expansion works.

It, however, paid ¢3.00 per share for the 2005 financial year and ¢4.00 for last year.

The chairman said the company registered a profit of ¢7.949 billion as against the previous figure of ¢7.409 billion and said operating cost increased from ¢249.4 billion in 2005 to ¢260.7 billion last year due to crude oil price hikes.

On the shortage of chocolates on Valentine's Day, Nana Boahen said although the company increased production, it was still not able to meet the demand of the public because of the novelty of the event.

He, however, promised the public and shareholders that the company would live up to expectation during such events in future.

Story by Samuel Doe Ablordeppey