Business
May & Baker Doubles Net Earnings To N418m
May & Baker Nigeria Plc recorded significant growths in sales and profitability in 2008 with net earnings rising by 101 percent to N418 million.
Key extracts of the audited report and accounts of May & Baker Nigeria for the year ended December 30, 2008 released at the weekend showed that turnover rose by 40 per cent to N5.44 billion in 2008 as against N3.86 billion in 2007.
The report showed that net earnings doubled from N208.3 million in 2007 to N418 million in 2008. The board of the company has however decided to distribute N280 million as cash dividends for the 2008 business year. The company however had dipped into reserves to partly finance payouts for the 2007 business year.
Directors of the healthcare company said they have recommended a dividend per share of 40 kobo for the 2008 business year. May & Baker had increased cash payout by 33 per cent from 30 kobo per share distributed for 2006 business year to 40 kobo for the 2007 business year.
Mr Joseph Odumodu, managing director, May & Baker Nigeria Plc, recently said the company has adopted a new vision to be among the top 10 conglomerates in Nigeria by 2020.
He said the company has decided to grow its pharmaceutical business significantly with a turnover target of 3.4 billion in order to ensure t hat its various businesses are in good positions to contribute maximally to the overall turnover.
Segmental profit analysis showed that the pharmaceutical business was the highest contributor to profitability.
Gross profit margin in the pharmaceutical business stood at about 49 per cent in 2007. Compared with 19 per cent and 27 per cent in the food business and water business respectively.
He noted that although the top 10 vision might be challenging, the company would work with all stakeholders to achieve this top position.
May & Baker had also witnessed major jump in sales in 2007 as the gains of recent diversification begin to impact on the overall performance of the company.
Audited report and accounts of May & Baker Nigeria for the year ended December 31, 2007 showed substantial growths in sales and profitability, which trickled into better returns to shareholders.
However, high cost of operations has continued to moderate strong growth in the top-line. This has also undermined the company’s underlying performance strength, with last audited report showing key indices of the downside.
Total turnover rose by 71 per cent in 2007 to N3.86 billion as against an increase of 13 per cent to N2.25 billion in 2006. Profit before tax stood at N398.1 million in 2007 compared with N266.2 million in 2006, representing an increase of about 50 per cent.
However with 24.7 per cent rise in tax provisions from N54.72 million in 2006 to N189.76 million in 2007, net earning melted to N208.32 million in 2007 compared with N211.47 million in 2006.
Cornerstone of Financial Services
A survey of more than 1 000 global finance leaders undertaken by digital payment network Ripple shows that 72% of respondents believe they need to offer a digital asset solution to remain competitive.
According to Ripple, leaders from the banking, fintech, corporate and asset management sector have made it clear that the “digital asset revolution is happening now”.
“Digital assets are quickly becoming a cornerstone of financial services, underpinned by progressive regulation, growing interest from Tier-1 banks, a steady consumer shift from banks to fintech providers, and booming stablecoin adoption,” Ripple says.
The survey was conducted in early 2026 and the findings released in March.
Stablecoin Boon or Bane?
Ripple has experienced significant success in the stablecoin sector since launching its Ripple USD (RLUSD) stablecoin in 2024.
With a market cap of $1.56 billion, it is considered a major regulated player in the market.
No doubt the platform was pleased to learn through its own survey that financial leaders were most bullish about stablecoins.
Roughly three-quarters of respondents believed they could boost cash-flow efficiency and unlock trapped working capital.
Ripple noted that finance leaders were thinking about stablecoins as more than “just a new way to execute payments”; instead, they viewed them as effective tools for treasury management.
In March 2026, Ripple began testing a new trade finance model built around RLUSD in a bid to increase the speed of cross-border payments.
The pilot initiative, developed alongside supply chain finance company Unloq [https://unloq.com], is running on the XRP Ledger inside a testing framework developed by the Monetary Authority of Singapore.
The Asian city-state is one of the platform’s biggest growth markets.
The idea behind the project is to see whether stablecoin-based settlement can streamline trade finance, too often hampered by reliance on intermediaries and slow reconciliation.
The only potential drawback is that if the initiative takes off, the Ripple to USD price could be negatively affected.
Ripple has always championed its native XRP token as a bridge asset, the “middleman” in the process of a financial institution turning dollars in the US into pounds in the UK, for example.
Ripple converts dollars into XRP and then back into pounds.
If RLUSD can do exactly the same thing, questions will be asked about XRP’s relevance.
That is a bridge Ripple will have to cross if it gets to that point.
Tokenisation Partners
Another interesting finding from Ripple’s survey is that most banks and asset managers are seeking tokenisation partners to help execute their strategies.
Some 89% of respondents said digital asset storage and custody were top priority. “Token servicing/lifecycle management also ranks highly for banks at 82%, while asset managers place greater emphasis on primary distribution at 80%,” Ripple found.
The survey also revealed that just more than half of fintechs and financial institutions want an infrastructure provider that can offer a “one-stop-shop solution”. This rose to 71% among corporate financial leaders.
Ripple attributes this to institutions and firms wanting uncomplicated, cohesive systems.
Infrastructure Rules
In its final analysis, Ripple says companies across the board are looking for partners and solutions that are “secure, compliant, battle-tested and that enable growth and execution”.
“The message is clear: infrastructure decisions made today will shape competitive positioning tomorrow.”
No surprise that this is precisely where Ripple is placing much of its focus.