Unilever Nigeria Plc, on Monday, January 27, 2025, released its unaudited Financial Statements (UFS) for the 12 months ended December 31 (12 months) 2024 to the market, with sales revenue rising by 42.2% year/year.
A close analysis of the results showed that sales revenue (top line) rose by 44.2% year-on-year (y/y) to settle at ₦149.75 billion, compared to the number achieved in 12M ‘23. The growth in the top-line was largely driven by sales recorded in Food Products’ segment which grew by 46.8% y/y and contributed 62.0% (vs 60.9% in 12M ‘23) to the total revenue.
Another substantial contributor to the revenue was the Personal Care’s segment, which grew by 33.8% y/y and contributed 29.4% (vs 31.9% in 12M ’23). The high operating environment pushes cost-line items upward amid the heightened inflationary environment and higher raw material prices, expenses incurred in generating revenue – ably represented by COGS rose by 30.6% y/y, however, it was lower than the rate of expansion on the top line.
Elsewhere, following upscaled pressure on Marketing & admin expenses (+153.1% y/y), Operating expenses (OPEX) spiked upward by 206.3% y/y, settling at ₦38.42 billion, thereby pushing OPEX margin to 25.7% y/y against 12M ‘23: 12.1% y/y. Given the upward pressures on above cost line items, operating profit was whittled down 13.1% y/y to ₦17.61 billion, compared with ₦20.26 billion posted in 12 ’23.
As such, Operating profit margin eased by 774 basis points (bps) to 11.76%. Down on the funding line, Finance income jumped by 53.3% y/y, chiefly driven by FX difference on bank balances (+290.8% y/y growth), and interest on call deposits. However, finance costs eased slightly (-0.36% y/y) as interest on third-party bank loans declined.
Bottom-line rises strongly by 88.5% y/y On the bottom lines, pre-tax and post-tax profits posted -0.69% y/y and +88.5% y/y, settling at ₦21.74 billion and ₦15.91 billion, respectively, compared to 12M ’23 numbers. In summary, shareholders’ returns – ably represented by earnings per share (EPS) – on every ₦1.00 investment stands at ₦2.77 per share, 88.5% higher than ₦1.47 posted in 12M ‘23.
We maintain Buy recommendation on UNILEVER We have an existing 12-Month target price/fair value on UNILEVER at ₦45.25 per share. At our target price of ₦45.25, UNILEVER offers an upside potential of 19.08% to the market when compared against ₦38.00 it closed on Tuesday, 28 January 2025. UNILEVER currently has a PE of 13.7x, ROE of 18.5% and ROA of 11.3%. Based on the healthy performance posted above, we hereby maintain our BUY recommendation on the company’s shares. Kindly see the table below for the company’s detailed 12M-2024 performance highlights.
