THE Group Managing Director of NNPC, Dr Maikanti Baru, has commended the management of National Engineering and Technical Company Limited (NETCO) for the unprecedented performance after it received a cheque for payment of N750million dividend by NETCO.

Dr Baru assured the company of his continued support, stressing that based on its performance, he would ensure NETCO get more projects, especially in the gas sector.

He, however, congratulated the outgoing Managing Director of NETCO, Engr. Siky Aliyu, for leaving a legacy behind for his successor and expressed optimism that the company would perform better next year.

The Managing Director of NETCO, Engr. Siky Aliyu said the company set a target to perform 600,000 man-hours of work in 2018, adding that it would continue to explore new opportunities and improve on service delivery to engender more confidence in its clients and stakeholders.

“NETCO management executed a number of collaboration agreements with local and international engineering companies to execute some projects.

Other areas of focus to NETCO were reduction in project schedule slippages by more than 50 percent, substantial reduction in operational costs by 15 percent, improvement in product quality deliverables to our various clients, improvement in clients’ confidence, sustained harmony with different staff unions within the company and compliance in our financial reporting as well as being up-to-date in our financial reporting and filings with the Corporate Affairs Commission,” he said.

Engr Aliyu said the resultant effect of these is the substantial increase in revenue and profit to NETCO.

The MD who announced his retirement from the corporation with effect from May 2018 said he was happy to leave behind a Company that has the largest Information Technology facilities in the Engineering field with a wide range of choice software for process simulations, plant modeling, structural analysis, stress analysis, designing of control systems engineering, drafting and project management.

However, according to the financial report of NETCO, the company recorded a profit before tax of N3.257 billion for 2017 financial year.

The breakdown shows that the company’s revenue increased by 122 percent from N10.13 billion in the previous year to N22.46 billion in the year under review.

The operating profit of NETCO increased by 134 percent, from N0.89 billion in 2016 to N2.07 billion in 2017.

According to Chief Operating Officer (COO), NETCO, Mallam Rabiu, the impressive result was the outcome of improved performance in project execution and cost reduction measures put in place during the period, in addition to and the new addition of construction and procurement portfolios in the company’s activities basket.

He, however, stated that the profit before tax decreased by 34 percent in the year under review when compared with N4.90 billion of the previous years, stressing that the decrease was attributable to the foreign exchange gains which constituted 56 percent before tax in 2016 as compared to 4.8 percent gain in 2017.

The COO Upstream said the remarkable figures were made possible through sustained efforts on the part of the Company to cash in on the strong support of the Group Managing Director of the Corporation, Dr Maikanti Baru and the shareholders.

“The strong support of the GMD, that of the shareholders, in addition to the award of some big-ticket jobs which NETCO delivered on time, within budget and without compromising on the quality of service delivery, made it possible for the remarkable figures.

The performance has reinforced to all stakeholders that given the right environment, NETCO is poised to greater heights.

Mallam. Rabiu said for the first time since the establishment of NETCO, the company was declaring the highest dividend in any given year of N750million to its shareholders at the AGM.