The board and management of food beverage giant- Cadbury Nigeria Plc, on Thursday gave investors and indeed shareholders reasons to cheers with the release of its promising first quarter performance showing that profit grew faster than turnover on the back of lower finance costs in the period.
According to the score-card, Cadbury Nigeria recorded N9.283bn sales turnover, which was 13% better than the N8.235bn reported in the corresponding period of 2018, with domestic sales accounting for N8.337bn, up from N7.024bn; while export sales revenue dropped from N1.211bn in 2018 to N945.488m. A further breakdown of the numbers showed that revenue from the sale of refreshment beverages stood at N5.669bn; followed by N2.709bn from confectionery and N904.575m contributed by intermediate cocoa products.
Cost of sales inched 7% higher to N6.908bn, from N6.436bn in 2018. Gross profit, therefore, stood at N2.375bn, from N1.798bn, representing 32.04% improvement.
Other income jumped by N16.327m or 55.19% from N29.58m in the first quarter of 2018 to N45.907m, being turnover from the sale of by-products; selling and distribution expenses dropped marginally to N1.258bn from N1.273bn; and administrative expenses from N341.902m to N449.067m, following which operating profit climbed 236% up from N212.623m to N713.653m.
Finance income, which was derived from interest income on bank deposits, rose to N36.608m from N26.071m; but finance cost (interest expense) dropped significantly to N26.327m from N207.227m, representing N180.9m or 87.3%; leaving net finance income at N10.281m, as against the N181.156m finance cost reported in the 2018Q1.
Profit before tax, therefore, increased to N723.933m from N31.467; just as income expense soared to N217.18m, up from N9.44m; resulting in net profit of N506.753m, as against the previous N22.027m, translating to 2,201% rise. This translated to earnings per share of 27 kobo, compared to one kobo in 2018.