Starwins AGM

SHAREHOLDERS of Starwins Ghana Limited, have disapproved of an increment in remuneration for the Company’s Board of Directors for the year 2008.
The reason for their disapproval was as a result of the Board’s inability to recommend the payment of dividends for shareholders for the year ending 2007 due to difficulties in the company’s cash flow.
The shareholders expressed their disapproval at the Company’s Annual General Meeting (AGM) held in Accra yesterday when the Board moved for the motion that the Chairman and the other Board of Directors remuneration be increased from GH¢350 to GH¢500 and from GH¢300 to GH¢500 respectively.
They said it was unfair for the Board to have an increment in their pay while they the shareholders who owned the company had nothing in return.
The Chairman of the Board of Directors for the company, Reverend Dr Mensah Otabil said the shareholders disapproval for an increment in the Board’s remuneration was a good indication of corporate governance at work.
He said the shareholders owned the company and it was their prerogative to decide how the company was operated.
The company, he noted achieved a turnover growth of 7 per cent which he attributed mainly to the increase in volumes of sales.
Despite the 7 per cent turnover growth the company was unable to achieve its target of operating profit for the year under review. It fell short by 45 per cent compared to 2006 as a result of lower profit margins on their products and higher marketing and selling expenses.
Rev Otabil stated that the company’s total capital expenditure for the year under review was GH¢355,199 where GH¢95,690 was spent on production equipment and GH¢256,797 was also spent on the company’s factory project.
In view of this he revealed that cash flow from the company’s operations improved from a deficit of GH¢16,333 in 2006 to a positive balance of GH¢113,020 in 2007.
The Board took the opportunity to announce the re-election of Dr Albert Gyan Boohene as non-executive member of the Board of Directors and the election of Mrs Barbara Oteng-Gyasi, a lawyer onto the Board.
The Managing Director, Mr Kwasi Yirenkyi said as part of their strategy for this year, the company was going to move into the West-African market to look for other prospects starting with anglophone countries.