Japaul Oil & Maritime Services Plc is wooing investors over its ongoing N5 billion hybrid offer which enters the second week as it has proposed to hold an investors’ forum in Lagos.

The investors’ forum has been scheduled to hold at the Ocean view Restaurant, Victoria Island, Lagos on Wednesday.
A source close to the organisation revealed this to Vanguard, saying “Both existing and prospective investors, captains of industry in both the private and public sectors would be invited for the occasion

According to the source “The Managing Director/CEO, Japaul Oil & Maritime Services Plc, Mr. Paul A. Jegede will address the audience on the need to invest in the company.”

The company is offering 1, 007,488,1888 ordinary shares of 50 kobo each at N3.95 per share  to the general public while 291,549,045 ordinary shares of 50 kobo each is being offered to the existing shareholders.  The Rights Issue is to be distributed in the ratio of one ordinary share for every four ordinary shares held by the shareholders whose names appear on the register of the company as at Friday, July 6, 2007.

The hybrid offer has opened on Monday September 24, 2007 and is scheduled to close on Wednesday, October 31, 2007.
Meanwhile, in an interview with the Managing Director of the company, Jegede said “The money to be raised from the offering would be used to expand our operations, acquire new equipment, and boost working capital, amongst others”.

According to him “Japaul is set to play big in the industry. When we did our initial offering people did not know us very well but now that we are beginning to make waves, many stakeholders have come to identify with us. The estimated net proceeds of N4.650, 498,521 after the deduction of the total offer costs (including underwriting commission) of N349, 501,480.00 would be applied as follows: Acquisition of Offshore Oilfield Support Vessels (43 per cent); Acquisition of equipment and accessories (23.66 per cent); Investment in Construction Materials for Oilfield Facilities, Infrastructure and Fabrication Facilities Development (8.60 per cent) and Working capital (3.23 per cent).”

Commenting on the gains from the offer he said “Our offering is very attractive as we have given discounts above N2 per share considering our small market price. The gains that investors would make from our offering would be higher than what most big banks give”.

It would be recalled that the company recorded a turnover of N1.4 billion for its audited results for the financial year ended December 31, 2006, representing an increase of 162.8 per cent over N533.15 million recorded in 2005.

The company recorded a profit before tax of N240.9 million in 2006, up by 94.7 per cent from N123.7 million in 2005. Profit after tax stood at N189.94 million compared with N104 million in 2005. This represents an increase of 82.7 per cent.  The directors are recommending a dividend of N0.11 per share as against 10 kobo recorded in the previous year.

The earning per share of Japaul Oil stood at 16.3 kobo in 2006 as against 21.4 kobo in 2005, while its operating expenses stood at N196.0 million as against N114.454 million in 2005..