Nigerian Ball-Point Pen Industries Record 15% Asset Growth Via N186million Investments

The Nigerian Ball-Point Pen Industries, NIPEN, manufacturers of BiC pens, Premium pens, BiC shavers and other plastic products has announced a 15.9% growth in asset through additional investment of N186 million in property, plants and machinery.

The company also increased its revenue by 13.9% from N4.453 billion in 2013 to N5.075 billion in 2014 and raised its shareholders’ funds from N1.714 billion in 2013 to N2.277 billion in 2014.

This result came in spite of the numerous challenges the company faced during the period under review, said the Chairman, Board of Directors and Managing Director of the company, Mr. Stephen Faderin, at the company’s 40th Annual General Meeting (AGM) in Lagos recently.

The additional investment resulted to a 57% increase in marketing and distribution costs as well as a substantial investment dedicated to anti-counterfeiting efforts however, and led to an expected 40% reduction in profit before tax for the year.

Faderin, who is also the Group Managing Director and Country Manager of CFAO Group in Nigeria, said although BiC pens recorded a decline in sales volume due to fierce competition from low cost brands as well as smuggled pens. Premium pens achieved a volume growth of 53% over the sales volume recorded in 2013 which, according to him, was an indication of “better market acceptance in spite of some technical issues experienced in product development.”