Directors of consumer goods manufacturing giant- Unilever Nigeria Plc, on Monday gave shareholders and investors generally reasons to cheer, presenting a nine-month earnings report showing that the company has since turned the corner.

Revenue for the period grew by 54.47%; while profit after tax growth was way faster at 801.92%.

Revenue for the period rose to N103.848bn from N71.206bn in the corresponding period of last year, while cost of sales increased to N60.955bn from N48.444bn. Cost of Sales was mainly the N65.901bn, up from N38.872bn cost of goods sold. Revaluation gain arising from foreign currencies denominated balances stood at N4.732bn from N6.297bn; ahead of the N213.603m restructuring writeback, down from the previous N3.274bn restructuring cost. Gross profit, therefore, stood at N42.892bn from N22.761bn.

Selling and distribution expenses rose to N4.49bn, compared to N2.722bn; marketing and administrative expense soared to N25.55bn from N10.444bn, among others; leaving operating profit at N6.674bn, compared to the previous N4.756bn. Impairment loss on trade and other receivables amounted to N2.878bn, up from N1.722bn; while other income grew to N163.423m from N93.087m. Operating profit stood at n10.131bn from N7.964bn

Finance income rose to N6.772bn from N5.305bn; while finance costs stood at N2.943bn, as against the previous N2.572bn; resulting in net finance income of N3.829bn from the previous N2.733bn.

Profit before tax, therefore rose from N10.697bn to N13.96bn, tax expenses dropped marginally from N3.237bn to N2.951bn; resulting in a net profit of N11.009bn, up from N2.669bn. This translated to Earnings Per Share of N1.92 each, from N1.30 in the preceding nine-month.

A breakdown of the scorecard showed that revenue for the period was buoyed by the sale of food products which contributed all of N61.403bn, up from N43.182bn; followed by personal care products with N34.67bn, compared with the previous N23.411bn; while beauty and wellness products accounted for N7.774bn, up from N4.612bn.

The bulk of the company’s revenue was generated in the domestic economy (Nigeria), which accounted for N100.61bn from N69.244bn; while N3.238bn came from exports (sales outside Nigeria); compared to the previous N1.961bn.