Workers of the Cocoa Processing Company(CPC) have appealed to government to delist the company from the Ghana Stock Exchange(GSE) due to its dwindling performance over the years.
According to them, it will be financially viable for government to delist and control the company since it is the majority shareholder.
Currently, COCOBOD owns about 57 percent of the shares, while the Ministry of Finance owns about 26 percent, with SSNIT controlling about 11 percent. The remaining shares which is less than 10 percent is owned by individuals.
CPC which produces Ghana’s flagship chocolate, the Golden Tree brands has been performing poorly on the bourse for some time now.
Speaking to Citi Business News during a tour of the factory by the Board Chairman of CCOBOD, Hackman Owusu Agyeman, the Staff Chairman of the Professional and Management Union at the CPC, Mr. Francis Aloko stated that the delisting will give government an opportunity to deal with a 20 million dollar debt owed to some syndicated banks.
“If it is delisted and it becomes fully state-owned, COCOBOD will now be in the position to supply us beans. Because of CPC’s financial situation or challenges, it is not attractive on the stock exchange, for that matter if we delist, it will be better,” he argued.
“Financing can be in different forms, you give a company loan, or you can recapitalize it. Giving it a raw material to work is also a form of financing. We think COCOBOD will be in a better position to supply the beans if they are the sole-owner of CPC,” he added.
Speaking on behalf of the workers, Mr. Aloko stressed that “Workers in CPC support the idea of delisting from the Ghana stock exchange”.
“When that is done, COCOBOD for that matter, government can take full control of CPC and we can refinance better. Beans supplied to us will be uninterrupted and then we can make profits and pay our debts of $20 million owed to the syndicated banks,” he said.
He pointed out that it is important for government to come to the aid of the company as it remains one of the few Dr. Kwame Nkrumah factories existing.
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By: Lawrence Segbefia/citibusinessnews.com/Ghana