SHAREHOLDERS of Swissport Tanzania have a reason to smile after the dividend increased by 25 per cent per share.

The shareholders approved the amount at their Annual General Meeting over the weekend which went up to 51/30 for last year from 41/- in 2022.

Swissport Chief Executive Officer Mrisho Yassin said the increase was warranted after the ground handling firm generated a net profit of 3.6bn/- last year against 2.6bn/-in 2022.

The profit pushed up the total dividend payout for last year to 1.8bn/-, Mr Yasin told reporters on the sideline of the AGM.

Additionally, the CEO attributed the profit to increased aviation activities whereby the number of flights went up to push up the cargo volume handled by Swissport while operation costs stagnated.

“The increased flights was a result of increased number of passengers, bearing in mind that the Air Tanzania Corporation (ATCL) is growing, hence pushing up the number of passengers,” he said.

He added: “We also think of expanding to Zanzibar’s Abeid Amani Karume International Airport as well as Mwanza International Airport.” He said the country also has a good environment for doing business, something which has contributed to the company’s good business performance.

Mr Emmanuel Matunda, the shareholder, said the company’s performance was pleasing last year.

“I expect that the company will continue to grow due to the increasing number of tourists coming into the country,” Mr Matunda said optimistically.

Additionally, the return on assets (ROA) improved from 5.86 per cent in 2022 to 8.20 per cent last year whilst the return on equity (ROE) increased from 8.36 per cent to 11.07 per cent over the same period.