Directors of cement manufacturing giant- Lafarge Africa Plc, at the midweek published its audited financials for the year ended December 31, 2020, offering a dividend of N1.00, from the N1.91 earnings per share, following which bottom-line grew by 116.06%, helped by the N10.466bn or 51.87% decline in finance costs during the year.
Recall that the company had in 2019 divested its equity stake in Lafarge South Africa, being profit from discontinued operation amounting to N99.586bn, raising its profit after tax for that year to N115.104bn, following which basic earnings per share for the period jumped to N7.15 each.
According to the result presented to the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), revenue rose to N230.572bn, from N212.999bn; while Cost of sales increased to N163.332bn, compared to N157.046bn; resulting in gross profit of N67.24bn, as against the previous year’s N55.95bn. A breakdown of the cost of sales showed that variable costs accounted for N100.683bn, compared to N91.422bn in the preceding year; a further breakdown of which showed that distribution variable cost amounted to N39.835bn from N37.516bn; with fuel and power taking N38.641bn, up from N31.763bn; while raw materials and consumables cost stayed flat at N22.207bn from N22.142bn.
Production costs accounted for N23.821bn, a drop from N24.45bn in the prior year.
Maintenance costs amounted to N8.47bn from N8.438bn; distribution costs amounted to N1.78bn; selling and marketing expenses dropped marginally to N4.221bn, compared to N5.095bn; Administrative expenses inched from N17.559bn to N18.301bn; while other income dropped to N976.151m, from N2.351bn; following which Operating profit jumped to N45.673bn, from N34.91bn.
Finance income slipped to N1.176bn from N3.158bn, after Interest income on current accounts yielded only N766.445bn from the previous year’s N1.07bn; while foreign exchange gain (net) improved slightly to N1.722bn from N1.655bn. Interest on bank overdraft remained at N740.443m; Interest on borrowings dropped significantly to N7.859bn from N18.125bn; Bank charges accounted for N630.22m, as against the previous year’s N898.597m.
This resulted in profit before minimum tax from continuing operations of N37.572bn, compared to N17.892bn in the preceding year. Minimum tax expense fell to N377.593m from N677.319m; resulting in profit after minimum tax from continuing operations of N37.194bn, as against N17.214bn.
Income tax expense rose to N6.352bn, from N1.697bn; resulting in Profit after tax from continuing operations of N30.842bn; up from N15.517bn; following which Profit after tax from discontinued operation at N99.586bn; resulting in Profit after tax for the year of N30.842bn, up from N115.104bn
