Companies

Coffee grower Eaagads directors work for free

monari

Mr Evans Monari, the chairman of Eaagads, says the zero compensation will end when dividends are declared. PHOTO | SALATON NJAU

Directors of coffee grower Eaagads #ticker:EGAD have been working for free, making it the only Nairobi Securities Exchange-listed firm to have board members who are not being paid in any form.

At the company’s annual general meeting on Thursday, shareholders will note that the directors did not receive any remuneration for the year ended March, same as the year before.

“The directors were not remunerated for the services they offered as directors of the company during the financial year,” Eaagads says in its latest annual report.

“They are also not eligible for pension or gratuity. There were no loans advanced to directors during the year.”

Eaagads chairman Evans Monari says the zero compensation policy will only end in a year when the company pays dividends. “We decided that directors will not be paid as long as the company is not declaring dividends to shareholders,” Mr Monari said.

“This is a moral thing to do for a company of our size. We want to be sensitive, especially to small shareholders.”

He added that whenever directors will be paid in the future, the amounts will be for that specific year and will not be backdated since there is no debt owed to the board members.

Besides Mr Monari, the company’s other directors are Joseph Kimemia and Andrew Rowell.

Eaagads made a net profit of Sh2.6 million in the year ended March, reversing a net loss of Sh62.5 million the year before as sales more than doubled to Sh179.6 million from Sh83.6 million.