Consumer goods company, PZ Cussons has announced the resignation of Pedro Barreto, its chief finance officer with effective from 31 March.
According to the management, this is to allow him pursue other personal endeavors. Barreto joined the company in February 2018.
In replacement, the company has also announced the appointment of Zuber Momoniat, a South African as the new chief finance officer with effective from 1st April 2020.
Momoniat is a certified chartered accountant with over 17 years of experience in account reconciliation, budgeting, internal controls, forecasting, and financial planning.
He started his career in audit at PwC and later SABMiller in different countries across various units of finance for 12 years.
This is coming few months after the resignation of another director, Alexander Goma in September last year.
In the sixties to the mid-nineties, a lot of Nigerian families were addicted to the array of products manufactured and produced by PZ Cussons Nigeria Plc. such as Imperial Leather Soap, Robb, Premier and Joy soaps and recently, Nunu powdered milk and morning fresh.
The ubiquitous influence of these products were felt in the society; in restaurants, offices, conferences, salons, hotels, which underscores a period of bloom for the consumer goods firm.
Sadly, the glory days of the company that produce electrical, homecare, personal care and beauty are over, as a weak macroeconomic environment and stiff competitions are undermining earnings.
For the first quarter ended 31 August 2019, PZ Cusson’s revenue dipped by 0.56 per cent to N15.80 billion. Between 2018-17 financial period, its top lines (sales) declined by 15.88 per cent to N15.89 billion, but it was up by 12.77 per cent to N18.89 billion in 2017-16 periods.
The slump in revenue can be largely attributed to weakness in the Home and Personal Care (HPC) Segment as it continues to wrangle with increasing competition from cheaper unbranded products as well as products from unrecognized smaller players which continues to exert pressure on HPC business.
Gross profit has reduced by 67.15 per cent to N2.71 billion in the first quarter ended August 31 2019; it dipped by 32.45 per cent to N4.53 billion in 2018-17 financial period, declined by 83.13 per cent in 2017-16.
In its second quarter result for the period ended 30th November, revenue dipped to N18.13bn from N19.15bn. Cost of sales surged to N15.05bn from N14.86bn. Loss for the period stood at N484.46million.
PZ Cussons operates in an environment where consumers have refused their pulse spring as inflation and fuel hikes have eroded their purchasing power.
Last year, PZ Cussons Group UK – the parent company of PZ Cussons Nigeria Plc (PZ), had blamed disappointing results on its Africa operations, especially Nigeria.
