Management of Unilever Ghana Limited has called on the Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) and the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) to rid the country off wrongfully labelled products as well as non-tax compliant products.
The Ghana Standards Authority (GSA) in collaboration with the FDA, last month embarked on an exercise to remove wrongfully labelled products from supermarkets and shops that fail to comply with the country’s general labeling rules.
Speaking to the media at the company’s Annual General Meeting, the Board Chairman of Unilever, Mr. Edward Effah said the presence of wrongfully labelled products and non-tax compliant products result in unfair competition against legitimate companies.
“The exercise to rid the shops of wrongfully labelled products is great. This is because we do see many of the illicit goods coming in which most of the time are not good products,” he said.
He pointed out that “The ones that are normally undercutting the market are the ones which are not properly labelled. It is in our interest to ensure that we know the origin as well as the content of all goods which come into the country.”
Mr. Effah added that the unfair competition created by the presence of such products hurt companies such as Unilever.
“When we have unfair competition companies like Unilever will suffer because they are unable to compete due to the fact that by virtue of being a global company Unilever has to stay responsible and maintain its high standards.”
The Chairman of Unilever Mr. Edward Effah was speaking at the 44th Annual General Meeting of Unilever Ghana Limited.
Unilever AGM
The annual general meeting which was held at the Ghana College of Physicians and Surgeons in Accra, was used to among other things receive the report of the directors, financial position as at 31st December 2017 and the Report of the Auditors.
The meeting was also used to declare a dividend pay-out of GHC 0.25 per share from the 2017 profits which amounted to a total of GHC 15.625 million. Other key developments at the meeting were the re-election of directors, approval of director’s fees as well as the approval of the proposed sale of Unilever’s Spreads (Blue Band margarine) business to Sigma Bidco B.V.
Unilever Ghana Limited results for the year ended 31 December 2017 show a revenue increase of 16 % from GHC 496 million in 2016 to GHC 576 million in 2017, mostly due to increase in volumes sold. The company’s operating profit before tax was GHC 65.3 million, representing 22 % increase over 2016’s GHC 53.5 million.
The company made some changes on its board by replacing Mr. Joseph Zilare Amuna (who resigned in July, 2017) with Mr. Nazaire Djako.
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By: Bobbie Osei/citibusinessnews.com/Ghana