PZ Cussons Plc, on Wednesday presented its audited result for the full-year ended May 31, 2017, indicating among others that profit attributed to shareholders galloped by 73.1%, faster than the 14.5% rise in revenue, with board offering to pay a 50 kobo dividend just as it did last year to conserve cash in view of the operating environment that has remained unfriendly.
Revenue from sales for the period rose from N69.527bn to N79.63bn, N75.015bn of which came from within Nigeria, as against N66.139bn in previous year, while export proceeds accounted for N4.614bn,compared to N3.387bn. Cost of sales increased to N51.682bn from N49.326bn; resulting in gross profit of N27.947bn, up from N20.201bn. Selling and distribution costs rose to N9.095bn from N8.825bn; while administrative expenses fell from N6.242bn in the 2016 full-year to N5.536bn; leaving operating profit at N13.215bn, a significant 115.5% rise over the N6.133bn reported in the prior year.
The operating profit was however impacted negatively by the huge N5.914bn or 205.13% growth in foreign exchange loss at N8.797bn from the previous year’s N2.683bn, which could not be mitigated by the N198.601m ‘other income’ that fell from N286.084m, following the drop in revenue from the sale of scraps and sundry items from N261.459m to N193.557m and N5.044m revenue from the profit on disposal of fixed assets, from N24.625m.
Interest income climbed by N275.313m, translating to 130.94% increase in interest income from N210.256m to N485.569m on short-term advances to related parties; just as interest cost dropped from N597.667m to N290.477m, leaving net finance income at N195.092m, compared to the cost of N387.411m in prior year.
Profit before tax improve from N3.148bn to N4.811bn, representing 52.8% climb; just as tax grew by 10.4% to N1.124bn; leaving a net profit of N3.686bn, which translates to Earnings Per Share of 84 kobo; as against the previous N2.129bn or 47 kobo, out of which the directors have offered to pay 985bn or N0.50 kobo per share as dividend, just like the 2016 financial year.
If the dividend proposed is approved by shareholders at the annual general meeting, payment would be made on October 13, after deduction of withholding tax.