{"id":43397,"date":"2020-09-27T18:02:16","date_gmt":"2020-09-27T17:02:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/?p=43397"},"modified":"2020-09-27T18:02:16","modified_gmt":"2020-09-27T17:02:16","slug":"low-patronage-competitions-forces-julius-berger-to-agro-processing-business","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/sub\/low-patronage-competitions-forces-julius-berger-to-agro-processing-business\/","title":{"rendered":"Low Patronage, Competitions Forces Julius Berger To Agro Processing Business"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>More facts emerged at the weekend over Julius Berger Nigeria Plc, board of directors\u2019 decision to diversify into agro processing business.<\/p>\n<p>Parts of the reason behind, the surviving strategy has been linked to low patronage and competitions in the contruction industry.<\/p>\n<p>National Wire findings among some market watchers and analyst, shows that the decision of the directors is inevitable considering the current global economic reality, especially with the recent coronavirus that has crippled world social, political and economic activities.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_21288\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-21288\" style=\"width: 300px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-21288\" src=\"https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/agriculture-300x169.jpg\" alt=\"Commercial farming\" width=\"300\" height=\"169\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/sub\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/agriculture-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/sub\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/agriculture-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/sub\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/agriculture-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/sub\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/agriculture-110x62.jpg 110w, https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/sub\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/agriculture-420x236.jpg 420w, https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/sub\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/agriculture-770x430.jpg 770w, https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/sub\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/agriculture-764x430.jpg 764w, https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/sub\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/agriculture.jpg 1280w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-21288\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Commercial farming<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Commenting on the development a senior market operator and Executive Vice Chairman, Highcap Securities Limited, David Adonri, noted that agriculture in Nigeria has huge supply gap and a new frontier for income generation. \u201cJulius Berger decision to enter the industry is commendable. The industry will benefit from their capacity and strength\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>Although, the contruction giant could be sighted in some parts of the country, where major ongoing projects are been executed and needless to emphasis on few contracts agreements both at the federal and sub-national levels.<\/p>\n<p>The diversification, according to some stakeholders in the constructions industry is the new normal and way to go if the company wants to remain a going concern in Nigeria. According to them the continued lip service to infrastructure growth, which is Julius Berger area of competence and domestic economy being further bedeviled by paucity of fund, hence the company need not wait to be stiffed out of operations.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-15561\" src=\"https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/2d06poultry-farming-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/sub\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/2d06poultry-farming-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/sub\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/2d06poultry-farming-110x73.jpg 110w, https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/sub\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/2d06poultry-farming-420x280.jpg 420w, https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/sub\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/2d06poultry-farming-272x182.jpg 272w, https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/sub\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/2d06poultry-farming.jpg 600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>They noted that the attention shift to agro processing as indicated in their notice to the Nigerian Stock Exchnage (NSE) last week, is also a pointer that most listed companies have been leveraging on free money in the economy and government patronage, which the unexpected Covid-19 has become a game changer. As other companies will definitely follow suit, because investment in the agricultural space is the only way to go for now and that the sector is a money spinning one, if well galvabised.<\/p>\n<p>On the flip side, the Managing Director, Afrinvest Research, Abiodun Keripe said although the details of the diversification are still very sketchy at the moment, \u201cI broadly think this is a positive surprise. With all that is happening to economies both locally and globally, it is important to have diversified revenue based for stability and continuity. Guaranty Trust Bank Plc also announced to be adding a few more businesses to its core banking via the HoldCo structure. Agro-processing is clearly a frontier for growth given the huge gap, Nigeria&#8217;s population and continued government focus in that space\u201d.<\/p><div data-ad-id=\"32665\" style=\"text-align:center; margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:0px; margin-right:0px;float:none;\" class=\"afw afw_ad_image afw_ad afwadid-32665  \">\r\n                                                            <div style=\"font-size:10px;text-align:center;color:#cccccc;\">Advertisement<\/div>\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/www.accessbankplc.com\" rel=\"nofollow\"><img decoding=\"async\" height=\"auto\" max-width=\"100%\" src=\"https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/Banner-1.jpg\"><\/a>\r\n                                                                        \r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<p>Keripe explained that \u201cyou will agree with me that competition is increasing in that space with the entrance of the China Construction Company and a few more indigenous businesses competing for a slice of government construction contracts. Over the long-run, for revenue and profitability to remain sustainable and to create more value for shareholders, I think this is a good idea. This does not mean that Julius Berger is exiting the construction space in any way, to the best of my mind\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>On investors\u2019 perspective regarding the diversification plan, one of Nigerian shareholders advocate, Boniface Okezie, National Chairman, Progressive Shareholders Association of Nigeria, (PSAN) said Julius Berger diversification into agribusiness is a master booster for the organisation and the economy.<\/p>\n<p>According to him \u201cSince the company is out to make money and the buck of their patronage is from the government, who in recent times appears not to be keen about infrastructure owning to funding challenges. I do not see anything wrong for them going into the agribusiness\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>Okezie pointed out that for instance, Flour Mills of Nigeria Plc entered the agric business space some years back, which in no small measure has helped to sustain the company and also meet their obligations towards their shareholders in the area of return on investments.<\/p>\n<p>Julius Berger\u00a0is a Nigerian construction company in Abuja with additional permanent locations in Lagos and Uyo. The company is represented across Nigeria in structural engineering and infrastructure works, and in southern Nigeria through domestic and international oil and gas industry projects.<\/p>\n<p>The company presence in Nigeria dates back to 1965 when the firm won a tender to construct a N312 million second Mainland bridge in Lagos. The project was a significant civil engineering endeavor because it was the first in the country to be built with pre-stressed concrete. The construction of the bridge was designed in phases with the first phase completed in 1969 and last phase completed in 1974.<\/p>\n<p>It is known for constructing most of Nigeria&#8217;s infrastructures, major expressways, and even some residential buildings.\u00a0The company has been listed on the\u00a0floor of Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE)\u00a0since 1991.\u00a0The construction business of Julius Berger is the heart of the Julius Berger Group.\u00a0It share price was N15 at the close of trading on Friday 25, September 2020<\/p>\n<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on the_content --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on the_content -->","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>More facts emerged at the weekend over Julius Berger Nigeria Plc, board of directors\u2019 decision to diversify into agro processing business.<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on get_the_excerpt --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on get_the_excerpt --><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":43399,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[7423],"coauthors":[2391],"class_list":["post-43397","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","","category-business","tag-julius-berger-nigeria-plc"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v18.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Low Patronage, Competitions Forces Julius Berger To Agro Processing Business - National Wire<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"More facts emerged at the weekend over Julius Berger Nigeria Plc, board of directors\u2019 decision to diversify into agro processing business.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/sub\/low-patronage-competitions-forces-julius-berger-to-agro-processing-business\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Low Patronage, Competitions Forces Julius Berger To Agro Processing Business - National Wire\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"More facts emerged at the weekend over Julius Berger Nigeria Plc, board of directors\u2019 decision to diversify into agro processing business.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/sub\/low-patronage-competitions-forces-julius-berger-to-agro-processing-business\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"National Wire\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-09-27T17:02:16+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/sub\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/images.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"275\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"183\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Friday Ekeoba\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/sub\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/sub\/\",\"name\":\"National Wire\",\"description\":\"About Nigerians, Nigerian Business and Other Stories\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/sub\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/sub\/low-patronage-competitions-forces-julius-berger-to-agro-processing-business\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/sub\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/images.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/sub\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/images.png\",\"width\":275,\"height\":183},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/sub\/low-patronage-competitions-forces-julius-berger-to-agro-processing-business\/#webpage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/sub\/low-patronage-competitions-forces-julius-berger-to-agro-processing-business\/\",\"name\":\"Low Patronage, Competitions Forces Julius Berger To Agro Processing Business - National Wire\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/sub\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/sub\/low-patronage-competitions-forces-julius-berger-to-agro-processing-business\/#primaryimage\"},\"datePublished\":\"2020-09-27T17:02:16+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-09-27T17:02:16+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/sub\/#\/schema\/person\/e2ab303e561d755b325fc9cea3854927\"},\"description\":\"More facts emerged at the weekend over Julius Berger Nigeria Plc, board of directors\u2019 decision to diversify into agro processing business.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/sub\/low-patronage-competitions-forces-julius-berger-to-agro-processing-business\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/sub\/low-patronage-competitions-forces-julius-berger-to-agro-processing-business\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/sub\/low-patronage-competitions-forces-julius-berger-to-agro-processing-business\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/sub\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Low Patronage, Competitions Forces Julius Berger To Agro Processing Business\"}]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/sub\/#\/schema\/person\/e2ab303e561d755b325fc9cea3854927\",\"name\":\"Friday Ekeoba\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/sub\/author\/friday\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Low Patronage, Competitions Forces Julius Berger To Agro Processing Business - National Wire","description":"More facts emerged at the weekend over Julius Berger Nigeria Plc, board of directors\u2019 decision to diversify into agro processing business.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/sub\/low-patronage-competitions-forces-julius-berger-to-agro-processing-business\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Low Patronage, Competitions Forces Julius Berger To Agro Processing Business - National Wire","og_description":"More facts emerged at the weekend over Julius Berger Nigeria Plc, board of directors\u2019 decision to diversify into agro processing business.","og_url":"https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/sub\/low-patronage-competitions-forces-julius-berger-to-agro-processing-business\/","og_site_name":"National Wire","article_published_time":"2020-09-27T17:02:16+00:00","og_image":[{"width":275,"height":183,"url":"https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/sub\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/images.png","type":"image\/png"}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Friday Ekeoba","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/sub\/#website","url":"https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/sub\/","name":"National Wire","description":"About Nigerians, Nigerian Business and Other Stories","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/sub\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/sub\/low-patronage-competitions-forces-julius-berger-to-agro-processing-business\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/sub\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/images.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/sub\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/images.png","width":275,"height":183},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/sub\/low-patronage-competitions-forces-julius-berger-to-agro-processing-business\/#webpage","url":"https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/sub\/low-patronage-competitions-forces-julius-berger-to-agro-processing-business\/","name":"Low Patronage, Competitions Forces Julius Berger To Agro Processing Business - National Wire","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/sub\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/sub\/low-patronage-competitions-forces-julius-berger-to-agro-processing-business\/#primaryimage"},"datePublished":"2020-09-27T17:02:16+00:00","dateModified":"2020-09-27T17:02:16+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/sub\/#\/schema\/person\/e2ab303e561d755b325fc9cea3854927"},"description":"More facts emerged at the weekend over Julius Berger Nigeria Plc, board of directors\u2019 decision to diversify into agro processing business.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/sub\/low-patronage-competitions-forces-julius-berger-to-agro-processing-business\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/sub\/low-patronage-competitions-forces-julius-berger-to-agro-processing-business\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/sub\/low-patronage-competitions-forces-julius-berger-to-agro-processing-business\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/sub\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Low Patronage, Competitions Forces Julius Berger To Agro Processing Business"}]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/sub\/#\/schema\/person\/e2ab303e561d755b325fc9cea3854927","name":"Friday Ekeoba","url":"https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/sub\/author\/friday\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/sub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43397","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/sub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/sub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/sub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/sub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43397"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/sub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43397\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":43400,"href":"https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/sub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43397\/revisions\/43400"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/sub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/43399"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/sub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43397"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/sub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=43397"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/sub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43397"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/sub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=43397"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}