Unilever Nigeria, one of the major players in Nigeria’s fast-moving consumer goods space, has bounced back to profitability in the first quarter of 2022 by 464.56 percent after incurring a loss in the corresponding period last year.
According to the firm’s latest financial statement, Unilever made a profit of N1.79 billion in the first quarter of 2022 compared to a loss of N491 million recorded in the comparable periods of 2021, according to the company’s unaudited interim financial statements for the three months ended 31st March 2022.
Its share price increased by 1.49 percent from N13.40 to N13.60 year till date, 28th of April, 2022
The firm’s profit was boosted by a 24.5 percent increase in sales to N20.56 billion, up from N16.51 billion in the first quarter of 2021.
Findings by BusinessDay showed that Unilever encompasses two segments which include food products (sale of savoury) and Home & Personal Care(sale of skin care and oral care products, fabric care and household cleaning). The company’s revenue consists of the sales from these two segments.
Read also: Unilever Nigeria sells Tea business to MSO Nigeria Limited
Home and personal care generated revenue of N11.12 billion in the first quarter of 2022 from N9.03 billion in the same period of 2021 while sales of food products generated N9.44 billion from N7.48 billion in the first quarter of 2021.
An in-depth analysis shows the company’s profit margin, which represents what percentage of sales has turned into profits, to be 8.71 percent in the first quarter of 2022.
Cost of sales grew 8.6 percent to N13.39 billion from N12.33 billion in the periods under review. However, the increase in sales pushed gross profit up by 71.5 percent to N7.17 billion compared to N4.18 billion in the first quarter of 2021.
Further, an analysis of the country’s financial statement shows that cash and cash equivalents increased by 9.24 percent to N60.84 billion from N55.69 billion in 2021.
The company also recovered from the operating loss incurred last year to N2.19 billion in the first three months of 2022 from a loss of N282.8 million.
On the other hand, finance costs surged 252.43 percent to N121.13 million from N34.37 million in 2021 while finance income increased by 52 percent from N284.06 million from N186.79 million in the period under review last year.
The Fast-Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) company grew its assets to N116.33 billion from N108.29 billion while its liabilities also increased to N48.77 billion from N42.53 billion in 2021.
Earnings per share increased to N0.31 from a loss of N0.09
The Company sells products such as Omo washing powder, Key soap, Royco bouillon, Lipton tea, Blue Band margarine, Pears baby care goods, Vaseline petroleum jelly, Lux soap, and Close Up toothpaste.
