TPB Bank, Puma, Tiper fill Sh10bn into Govt coffers
The Finance and Planning Minister, Dr Phillip Mpango
What you need to know:
- TPB Bank, Puma Energy Tanzania and Tanzania International Petroleum Reserves Limited (TIPER) have issued Sh1.032 billion, Sh7 billion and Sh2 billion respectively as dividends to the government from the companies’ 2016 profits.
- TIPERs’ Managing Director, Mr Stephane Gay asks the government to hasten the process of receiving all petroleum and energy products via a single storage facility.
Dodoma. The Finance and Planning Minister, Dr Phillip Mpango has received a total of Sh10 billion today from three companies in which the government has stakes in.
TPB Bank, Puma Energy Tanzania and Tanzania International Petroleum Reserves Limited (TIPER) have issued Sh1.032 billion, Sh7 billion and Sh2 billion respectively as dividends to the government from the companies’ 2016 profits.
The money will help the government to partly finance the Sh31.7 trillion budget for the financial year 2017/18.
The government owns 86.17 per cent stake in TPB Bank and 50 per cent in Tiper and in Puma Energy Tanzania.
This is the first time that TPB Bank has issued out dividends since Tanzania’s oldest bank was established.
“For a long time, TPB Bank has been making losses but after making the necessary modifications, we started making profits in 2011 but we decided to reinvest all the profits that we registered since then. This year, we thought it wise to share the profits with shareholders,” said the TPB board chairperson, Prof Lettice Rutashobya.
In his remarks, the Puma Energy board chairman, Dr Ben Moshi said the company registered a net profit of Sh25 billion in 2016, noting however that the money would rise if a number of government institutions decide to do business with Puma Energy.
Last year, Puma issued a Sh4.5 billion dividend to the government from the company’s 2015 profit.
According to TIPERs’ Corporate Affairs Manager, Mr Emanuel Kondi, the company which operates Tanzania’s largest oil storage terminal, registered a net profit of Sh8 billion in 2016, and that each of its two shareholders (the government and Oryx Energies) has received a Sh2 billion dividend.
Speaking during dummy cheaque handover event here this morning, Mr Kondi – who was accompanied by the firm’s Managing Director, Mr Stephane Gay who asked the government to hasten the process of receiving all petroleum and energy products via a single storage facility.
Dr Mpango thanked the companies and asked them to work harder to increase their profits – and thus dividends – next year.
