Nigerian firms continue to push for more space at the international market following an increase of 25 percent in export sales by the food and beverages giants, Nestle Nigeria Plc and Cadbury Nigeria Plc, the analysis of their audited financial statements for the period ended December 31, 2018 has shown. Both firms recorded combined foreign sales of N8.41 billion up from N6.72 billion in 2017, representing an increase of 25 percent across the two firms.
Although their export sales remain marginal when compared with the overall sales, the growth recorded in foreign sales in the last financial year was a sign that if policies targeted at promoting foreign competitiveness are further refined, more Nigerian firms could gain a foothold in the international market space.
Both firms recorded gross revenue of N302.25 billion in 2018 as against N277.23 billion in 2017. Overall total sales, both domestic and foreign sales, rose 9 percent in 2018. The combined foreign sales of the two firms in 2018, or N8.041 billion, amounted to 3 percent of the total revenue compared with N6.71 billion which represented 2 percent of the total sales in 2017.
When an individual appraisal was conducted on each firm, Nestle Nigeria made N262.8 billion from the domestic market and N3.47 billion in the international market in 2018 whereas in 2017, domestic sales amounted to N241.12 billion while foreign sales amounted to N3.03 billion. Whereas its domestic sales rose by 9 percent foreign sales increased by 15 percent. This implied that Nestle maintained 89 percent control of the domestic market and 41 percent market share in the foreign market.
Cadbury posted total sales of N35.97 billion in 2018, an increase of 9 percent over N33.08 billion it made in 2017. From the last year’s total sales, N31.04 billion was from the domestic market while N4.94 billion was from overseas. In effect, domestic sales rose by just 6 percent while foreign sales increased by 34 percent. Cadbury Nigeria controlled 11 percent of the domestic beverages market while it controlled 59 percent of the export of beverages in 2018.
“Cadbury Nigeria’s local sales, and by extension total sales, will continue to be small when compared with Nestlé’s because of the limited number of products it has for the food and beverages market. Nestle has products for every household and that gives it an edge over its competitors”, an analyst who did not want his name in print said.
For Nestle and Cadbury Nigeria, their domestic and foreign market shares remained at 89 percent and 11 percent respectively in 2017 and 2018.
Cadbury Nigeria has equally announced it will pay shareholders N0.25 per share as final dividend for shareholders whose names appear in the register of members on or before May 17, 2019. Earlier, Nestle announced N38.5 final dividend per share for shareholders.
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