Fast Moving Consumer Goods company, Nestle Nigeria Plc has released its financial result for the period ended December 31 2016, reporting a 66.6 percent decline in profit after tax (PAT) at N7.9 billion.
This figure is in contrast with N23.7 billion recorded in 2015, following increased cost of sales, expenses and rising finance costs.
Cost of sales increased 27 percent to N106.6 million, against N83.9 million in the same period of 2015, marketing and distribution expenses rose 11.2 percent to N28.8 billion from N25.9 billion in 2015 while finance cost rose by 327 percent to N20.9 billion from N4.9 billion recorded in the previous year.
Nestle however noted that despite the challenging operating environment and softer consumer demand due to rising inflation, it grew revenue by 20 percent to N181.9 billion, from N151.3 billion posted in 2015.
The results also showed that finance income rose to N4.2 billion from N443.8 million as Profit before income tax (PBT) settled at N21.5 billion in comparison with N29.3 billion recorded as PBT from the period of January to December 2015.
The company also notified the general public of its 48th Annual General Meeting to be held on the 23rd of May for the purpose of approving the company’s results, to declare a dividend, to re-elect directors, among others.
The directors recommended a dividend of N10 to be approved by shareholders at this event. The proposed dividend is 43 percent lower than N17.50 declared for the 2015 financial year.
