Unilever Nigeria submitted its financials for the year ended December 31, 2017 on Thursday, indicating that double digit growth revenue and costs, while profit before and after tax more than doubled, despite a 263.17% jump in tax expenses for the period. The directors have recommended a dividend of N2.872bn for approval at N0.50 per shar, payable on Friday, May 11, 2018, by shareholders at the annual general meeting.
On the balance sheet, total asset climbed to N121.084bn, up by 67% from N72.491bn in the prior year; just as total liabilities dropped 25.7% to N45.175bn from N60.8bn; and shareholders’ funds by 549.35% to N75.908bn from N11.6n89bn.
Specifically, Unilever Nigeria’s sales revenue for the period grew 30.09% to N90.771bn from N69.777bn; faster than the 24.95% rise in cost of sales to N61.828bn from N49.481bn; resulting in gross profit of N28.943bn, as against the N20.296bn reported in 2016, representing 42.61% growth.
A breakdown of the revenue for the period showed that home and personal care products raked in N47.91bn, while food products pooled N42.861bn; compared to the combination in 2016, when food products was the biggest revenue earner, fetching N36.398bn, as against n33.378bn by home and personal care products.
A further breakdown shows that the company earned most of its revenue from the domestic market, with N89.075bn from within Nigeria, up from N66.429bn; even as export market accounted for a slimmer N1.696bn from N3.347bn.
Marketing and administrative expense remained flat at N11.982bn from N11.464bn, with brand and marketing gulping N3.719bn, down from N4.013bn; while overheads took N6.023bn from N5.916bn; and service fees, N2.24bn, as against N1.533bn. Distribution and sales expenses rose 26.72% to N3.992bn from N3.151bn.
Other income fell from N124.237bn to a negative of N18.026bn; resulting in N12.949bn operating profit, which was 123.08% better than the N5.805bn reported in preceding full year.
Finance income was 63.1% better at N1.667bn from N1.022bn, helped by N1.303bn interest on call deposits and bank accounts as against N333.174m, even as there was no exchange gain, compared to N617.874m in 2016; just as derivative gain jumped from N13.414m to N285.74m. Finance costs rose 25.32% to N3.41bn from N2.721bn, boosted by interest expense of N2.557bn from N2.575bn; followed by exchange loss of N751.853m and amortised cost interest of N100.463m, which fell from N145.622m.
Unilever’s Profit before tax therefore jumped 172.92% from N4.106bn to N11.207bn; while tax rose 263.17% to N3.757bn from N1.034bn, resulting to net profit of N7.45bn from N3.071bn, translating to Earnings Per Share of N1.78 from N0.81.
The result also showed an improvement in Unilever’s management efficiency as measured by the Net Profit Margin that climbed to 8.21% from 4.4%
