Unilever Nigeria Plc, on Friday submitted its unaudited result for the half year ended June 30, 2017, indicating that profit before and after tax recorded a three-digit rise, faster than revenue, most of which was recorded in the second quarter between April and June.
The result, which raised investors hope of a juicier dividend, should the performance continue at this rate till full year, showed that revenue from sales stood at N45.105bn, representing a N12.827bn or 39.74% increase from previous half-year’s N32.277bn.
A breakdown of the figure showed that the lion’s share of revenue or N20.725bn came from the company’s food product segment, up from the previous N16.864bn; followed by personal care with N12.123bn, as against N7.915bn; while the home care segment yielded N12.255bn from N7.496bn. For the period also, N44.343bn or over 98.31% of revenue came from Nigeria, with only N761.159m earned from sale of finished goods to sister companies in Ghana and Cote D’Ivoire. Within the period, finished goods purchased from Unilever Ghana Limited stood at N779.94m, down from N1.394bn in the first half of 2016; and N159.003m, from nil in the first half of prior, bringing total to N938.943m, compared with N1.394bn.
Cost of sales rose by 45.53% or N9.982bn from N21.924bn in the corresponding period of 2016, to N31.197bn, leaving gross profit at N13.907bn, compared to N10.353bn previously.
Selling and distribution expenses rose to N1.942bn from N1.502bn, while marketing and administrative expenses fell to N5.571bn as against N6.689bn in 2016, bringing gross profit for the period to N6.394bn, which was significantly higher than the N2.161bn recorded earlier.
Finance income was N374.977m, slightly better than the N220.856m recorded in 2016; while finance costs more than doubled to N1.725bn from N894.891m.
Profit before tax soared by N3.556bn or 239.1% to N5.044bn, as against the N1.487bn reported in the corresponding period of past year, while tax stood at N1.367bn from N393.615m. This resulted in a N3.556bn or 236.22% rise in net profit at N3.676bn, which translates to earnings per share of 97 kobo; as against N1.093bn net profit or 29 kobo in the first half of 2016.