Mechanical Lloyd Bags C3.615bn Profit

The Board Chairman of Mechanical Lloyd Company Ltd., Mr. Y.M. Sarpong has said the turnover of the company for the year 2001 increased by 65.7% from ?34.3 billion to ?56.87 bn which yielded a Gross Profit of ?15.67 bn.

Presenting the Annual Report and Accounts for the year 2001 at the Tenth Annual General Meeting in Accra yesterday, Mr. Sarpong said the company made a Profit After Tax of ?3.615 bn as against a loss of ?1.652bn in the year 2000. He also said that the Board has approved a dividend of ?22.50 per share.

He attributed the gains of the company in part to the prudent fiscal policies taken by the current government to check inflation and the depreciation of the cedi adding further that "the pragmatic and effective policies adopted by the Government yielded very positive results and did enlist much-needed assistance and support from the donor community. The beneficial fallout was the confidence-building factor engendered in the business sector of the economy."

He said BMW picked up from its dismal performance in 2000 and increased its sales by 63% in 2001 which accounted for about 39% of the company's turnover for the year. Further, he said that the company sold 46 units of Ford vehicles in the first four months as an agent of Ford.

Mr. Sarpong announced that Mechanical Lloyd is to expand its operations to other parts of the country including Tamale and Kumasi to strengthen her market presence and said that work on the construction in Accra of a state-of-the-art offices with reception facilities capable of serving 8 to 10 customers simultaneously was progressing.

Mechanical Lloyd is a company dealing essentially in the distribution, marketing and repair of automobiles and farm machinery as well as their servicing and maintenance.