TOR set to declare dividend by 2020
Managing Director of the Tema Oil Refinery (TOR) says the company has put in place stringent measures which will start yielding results to the taxpayer from next year.
According to Mr Osei, the woes of the company can be attributed to some legacy debt over the years which caused the inability of the company to declare dividends to the state for almost a decade.
However, after signing a performance contract for 2019 with the State Enterprise Commission, he assured TOR would bounce back in 2020 to pay a dividend.
“The truth of the matter is that we have a lot of legacy issues but we cannot dwell on that, we have to look forward to making some progress and leverage on the assets that we have in order to turn a profit”he noted.
Isaac Osei admitted that though the outlook is positive, it will be difficult for the refinery to generate enough in 2019 to make a profit.
He said, “I do not think we will make a profit in the next year but the following year which is 2020 hopefully when some of the issues we had in the past has been resolved, TOR will be in a much better position to return a profit to shareholders.”
The Tema Oil Refinery is one of the state-owned enterprises hoping to get a strategic investor to turn it around.
Mr Osei believes the current board has the capacity to transform the company into a world-class refinery facility.