We have invested about 130 million dollars in Nigeria — Chairman of PZ Cussons, Richard Harvey

Richard Harvey
is the global
chairman of PZ
Cussons Plc.
He was in the
country last
week to
commission
the company's
subsidiary
(HPZ Limited)
new
assembling
line for its fridge products. In this interview, he
noted that fridge factory is highly capital intensive
and in order for the company to be competitive,
"We need more customer base of three million
Nigerians to be able to go into fridge
manufacturing." Excerpt:
How long have you been doing business in Nigeria?
As you know, PZ Cussons Nigeria is the largest
subsidiary of PZ Cussons. We have been operating
in the country for more than a hundred year. So ,
Nigeria has been a backbone of our operation as a
group.
What is the contribution of PZ Nigeria to your
global sales?
That is a very good question. PZ Nigeria contributes
about 30 percent to our global turnover. So Nigeria
is a very important part of the group.
Do you have plans of extending your products
category to other sectors of the Nigerian economy?
AS you are probably aware, we have interest in
Nigeria's agriculture sector where we have invested
N10 billon in palm oil refinery at Ikorodu area of
Lagos.
We have started producing our vegetable oil under
the brand name 'Mamadore' produced from crude
oil palm and refined to the highest quality and
bottled to international standard. For us it is
exciting bringing into the market great product.
The product has been in the market in the last
three months.
What are your key challenges and how is it
affecting productivity?
Productivity actually is improving. We are
improving productivity with the patronage our
brands are enjoing and we have been bring in new
machinery and equipment to improve productivity
and produce products that are of high quality and
competitive. PZ is a global brand and we are
producing according to global standards.
How much money have you invested in Nigeria in
the past five years?
In the last five years, we have invested about 130
million dollars.
What did you want to achieve with this new
production line?
It will help to rapidly expand the distribution of our
fridge products in Nigeria and Ghana. We
anticipate that the demand will keep growing and
with the factory, we are ready to sustain supply.
What message do you have for your Nigerian
shareholders?
They are investing in the right company.
You have spent so much money on internal
expansion, are you thinking of doing any capital
issues?
No. The group as a whole is strongly capitalised.
Besides we are conservative about borrowing.
How many jobs have you created in support of
Nigerian government's Transformation Agenda?
Currently, we have 2,500 workers across the
country on our payroll and we are increasing the
number by 30 to 50 percent, through our PZ Wimar
palm oil project. In 2010, PZ Cussons Plc entered
into a joint venture (PZ Wilmar Ltd) with Wilmar
International to build a palm oil refinery in Nigeria
and build up an associate food ingredients
business.
What is your capacity utilisation?
The capacity utiisation in this factory is a little bit
lower than what we would like to do now.Honestly,
we are building for the future.
What percentage of
your raw materials is
sourced locally?
Honestly, our record
speaks for itself; we
make much use of
local raw materials in
our milk products like
Nunu milk.The content
and can are sourced
locally except the
machinery for
packaging it.
What about transition to full scale manufacturing
instead of assembling?
Of course, we would love to produce locally, but
most certainly it is a long – term plan. This is
because the fridge factory is highly capital
intensive and in order for us to be competitive, we
probably need more customer base of three million
Nigerians to be able to go into fridge
manufacturing. As of now; we have not decided to
go into it until we are able to capture more market
out of the 160 million people in the country.
In recent times, many foreign companies have
been increasing their shareholdings in Nigerian
companies; do you intend to do the same?
No. We have over 85,000 shareholders and we are
holding about 70 percent. As of now, there is no
plan to increase our shareholding in a Nigerian
subsidiary. However, we are committed to our
shareholders and the Nigerian economy.
SOURCE: Vanguard Nigeria
Sent From David Aniemeka