NICOL shareholders smile as dividend upped by 16pc

SHAREHOLDERS of National Investment Company Limited (NICOL) have all reasons to smile after the mutual fund approved a 16 per cent increase in dividend per share for last year.

The mutual fund’s shareholders approved the dividend increase from 37/- a share paid in 2021 to 43/- for last year at their 9th Annual General Meeting held in Dar es Salaam last week.

NICOL Chief Executive Officer Erasto Ngamilaga said the decision to approve the dividend increase means the fund will use 2.6bn/- for the obligation and be paid first Monday of December.

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“Shareholders are very happy because the recommendation they gave to the management in the last year’s AGM has been implemented, including large investments in productive projects,” he said over the weekend:

“The long-term strategy is to invest in agriculture because we have seen the opportunities there.”

The share will start trading ex-dividend almost at the end of the month.

NICOL further plans, he said, are to capitalise on the opportunities that arise from the agriculture sector to build various warehouses across the country based on the government strategies set on boosting the environment sector.

Also NICOL eyes investment opportunities in energy, minerals and gas and they are in the process of establishing a subsidiary that will be involved in that area.

“We see many opportunities in the energy sector, so we believe that when we invest in that area, we get the return of our investment hence increasing the income of our shareholders,” said Mr Ngamilaga.

NICOL Chairman Dr Gideon Kaunda said shareholders’ happiness was because of the increase of dividends due to their investment in government securities and real estate—buying of Mirambo Street Properties which owns Milambo 50 building.

“Among our big achievements of last year is buying Mirambo Street Properties. We expect next year the dividend will double,” said Dr Kaunda.

NICOL listed on the Dar es Salaam Stock Exchange saw its share price appreciate from 270/- at the beginning of the year to 500/- last week.

One of the founding shareholders of NICOL, Alan Mwaigaga, said he was pleased to see the mutual fund is growing steadily.

“Today I will get a good sleep. It is a smart investment they made,” he said.

Another shareholder, Suzana Michael, said the company continues to achieve great success compared to where they came from by investing in various projects.

“This is a great success compared to where we came from,” she said.

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