Cadbury’s profit dip by most in 4yrs on lower revenue

Cadbury plc recorded its lowest profit in four years in 2020, as the COVID19- induced lockdown squeezed the food maker’s revenues.

The food maker’s profit dipped 84 percent to N172 million in 2020, down from N1 billion in the same period of 2019.

The consumer goods firm saw revenue plunge 10 percent to N35.4 billion in 2020 compared to N39.3 billion in the same period of 2019.

Domestic sales dropped 6.3 percent to N32.2 billion while export sales declined 35 percent to N35.4 billion in the periods under review.

Cost of sales was down by 4 percent to N29.6 billion from N31 billion in the fullyear period of 2019.

The drop in revenue dragged gross profit down by 30 percent to N5.76 billion compared to N8.32 billion a year before, this occurred despite the decline in sales cost.

In 2020, net finance income plunged 31 percent to N185.2 million compared to N127.4 million the previous year.

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The consumer goods firm saw its selling and distribution expenses decline by 12.1 percent to N4.57 billion compared N5.2 billion in 2019.

Administrative expenses also dropped 35 percent to N1.17 billion to N1.18 billion in the periods under review.

The company made no impairment on receivables in 2020 compared to a year before when it had an impairment of N30.6 million.

Income tax expense dipped 84 percent to N74 million in 2020 from N468 million in the same period a year before.

Earnings per share also fell 84 percent to N9 per share from N57 per share in the same period of 2019.

Cadbury made a loss of N681 million in Q4’20 from a profit of N619 million in Q4’19.

In Q4’20, revenue was down 7.6 percent during the period to N9.6 billion from N10.4 billion the previous year.

Cost of sales was up 13.7 percent to N9.1 billion in Q4’20 from N8 billion in Q4’19.

This resulted in a decline gross profit to N486.3 million in Q4’20 from N2.35 billion in the same period in the previous year

In the last three months of 2020, earnings per share grew 9 percent to N36 per share from N33 per in the same period of 2019.

Cadbury Nigeria Plc manufactures intermediate products, such as cocoa butter, liquor, cake and powder. The company also exports cocoa butter, cake and liquor to international customers, and cocoa powder locally.