Nigerian Breweries Plc, on Friday presented its score-card for the half year ended June 30, 2017, indicating growth in basic indicators, particularly the net profit pointing to the possibility of robust price appreciation and/or interim/final dividend in the months ahead.
The company reported N23.637bn growth in revenue to N181.01bn, from N157.373bn in the corresponding half year of 2016; with cost of sales growing to N99.676bn, compared with the previous N83.391bn, which includes N5.44bn recognized for royalties and license for three contracts subject to regulatory approval; following which gross profit stood at N81.333bn, as against the previous N73.982bn.
Meanwhile, there is another N5.891bn, recognized as “royalty and technical service fees,” which rose from N5.698bn in 2016 half year, as different from the N5.44bn requiring NOTAP approval, which the management needs to explain.
Other income rose to N1.818bn from N283.964m; marketing and distribution expenses grew marginally to N33.398bn from N29.475bn; just as administrative expense was flat at N10.436bn, as against the N10.849bn reported in prior half year, leading to operating profit of N20.115bn.
Finance income was down from N251.596m to N86.697m; while finance cost fell to N5.345bn, as against the N8.643bn in the half year of 2016, as a result of which net finance costs stood at N5.258bn, down from N8.419bn.
Profit before tax rose to N34.058bn from N25.548bn, just as profit attributable to shareholders closed at N23.751bn, translating to earnings per share of 297 kobo, up from the previous N19.066bn or 240 kobo, despite the 59% or N3.825bn rise in income tax expenses.